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PROCEEDINGS 


/ OF THE 

FOURTH 

AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 

UNDER AUSPICES OF 

AMERICAN HIGHWAY ASSOCIATION 
AMERICAN AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION 


Price $1.80. postpaid 

ATLANTA, GA. 

NOVEMBER 9-14, 191* 





• • 



MAR 27 1915 


PROCEEDINGS 


OF THE 

FOURTH 

AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 

Bp’’' 4/ 

UNDER AUSPICES OF 

AMERICAN HIGHWAY ASSOCIATION 
AMERICAN AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION 



ATLANTA, GA. 


NOVEMBER 9-14, 1914 





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Copyright 1915 

BY 

American Highway Association 


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COMPOSED AND PRINTED AT THE 


WAVERLY PRESS 
By the Williams & Wilkins Company 

© Cl. A 3 9 7 7 5 4 Baltmom, u. a a. 


WAR 27 19/5 

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Proceedings of 


FOURTH AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 

UNDER AUSPICES OF 

AMERICAN HIGHWAY ASSOCIATION 
AMERICAN AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION 

OFFICERS 

A. B. Fletcher, President 
State Highway Engineer of California 
I. S. Pennybacker, Executive Secretary 
Executive Secretary, American Highway Association 
Lee McClung, Treasurer 
Former Treasurer of the United States 
Charles P. Light, Business Manager 
Field Secretary, American Highway Association 

Executive Committee 

George C. Diehl, Chairman , Good Roads Board, American Automobile 
Association. 

L. W. Page, President, American Highway Association. 

A. G. Batchelder, Chairman, Executive Board, American Automobile Asso¬ 
ciation. 

Austin B. Fletcher, State Highway Engineer of California. 

Richard H. Edmonds, Editor, Manufacturers Record. 


AMERICAN HIGHWAY ASSOCIATION 

COLORADO BUILDING, 

Washington, D. C. 

Officers for 1915 

Fairfax Harrison, President, President, Southern Railway Company. 
Logan Waller Page, Vice-President, Director, U. S. Office of Public Roads. 
John Burke, Treasurer, Treasurer of the United States. 

I. S. Pennybacker, Executive Secretary. 

Charles P. Light, Field Secretary. 

Board of Directors 

James S. Harlan, Chairman, Chairman, Interstate Commerce Commission. 
Charles Whiting Baker, Editor, Engineering News. 

A. G. Batchelder, Chairman, Executive Committee, American Automobile 
Association. 

W. T. Beatty, of Chicago, Illinois. 

Charles D. Blaney, Chairman, California Highway Commission. 

S. E. Bradt, Secretary, Illinois Highway Commission. 

R. D. Chapin, President, Hudson Motor Car Company. 

George W. Cooley, State Highway Engineer of Minnesota. 

George C. Diehl, of Buffalo, N. Y. 

Richard H. Edmonds, Editor, Manufacturers Record. 

Austin B. Fletcher, State Highway Engineer of California. 

Fairfax Harrison, President, Southern Railway Company. 

A. N. Johnson, Engineer, Bureau of Municipal Research, New York City. 

L. E. Johnson, President, Norfolk and Western Railway Company. 

Joseph W. Jones, of New York City. 

Clarence A. Kenyon, President, Indiana Good Roads Association. 

Bryan Lathrop, Member Lincoln Park Commission. 

E. J. Mehren, Editor, Engineering Record. 

James H. MacDonald, Former State Highway Commissioner of Connecticut. 
Thomas G. Norris, President, Arizona Good Roads Association. 

Logan Waller Page, Director, U. S. Office of Public Roads. 

Joseph Hyde Pratt, State Geologist of North Carolina. 

William D. Sohier, Chairman, Massachusetts Highway Commission. 
Leonard Tufts, of Pinehurst, N. C. 

W. Tom Winn, President, Association of County Commissioners of Georgia. 

WOMAN’S DEPARTMENT 

Mrs. Robert Baker, Chairman. 

AMERICAN AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION 

437 FIFTH AVENUE 
New York City 

John A. Wilson, President, Franklin, Pennsylvania. 

H. A. Bonnell, Treasurer, East Orange, New Jersey. 

John N. Brooks, Secretary, Torrington, Connecticut. 

A. G. Batchelder, Chairman, Executive Committee. 

George C. Diehl, Chairman, Good Roads Board. 


TABLE OF CONTENTS 

Adaptability of Merit System to the Engineering Service. 98 

Address of George C. Diehl. 24 

Address of President Fletcher. 10 

Address of Judge Nat E. Harris. 323 

Address of S. Percy Hooker. 34 

Address of Robert N. Hooper. 15 

Address of Joseph W. Hunter. 128 

Address of Clarence Kenyon. 41 

Address of James H. MacDonald. 170 

Address of Logan Waller Page. 342 

Address of Joseph Hyde Pratt. 37 

Address of Senator Hoke Smith. 17 

Address of Col. Sidney Suggs. 22 

Address of Leonard Tufts. 21 

American Automobile Association. 4 

American Highway Association. 4 

Annual Meeting of American Highway Association. 356 

Bishop Candler. 7 

Bituminous Macadam by Cold Mixing Method. 253 

Committee on Resolutions. 46 

Convict Labor. 268 

Convict Labor in Colorado. 273 

Drainage Structures. 142 

Educational Campaign for Good Roads. 316 

Educational Field For Highway Departments. 64 

Efficiency of Highway Organization. 51 

Engineering Supervision of Road Construction. 110 

Extent to Which Engineering Schools Give Attention to Highway Engi¬ 
neering Instruction. 76 

Grades and Excavations. 145 

Governor Slaton. 8 

Heavy Traffic Roads. 175 

Highway Engineering Education. 305 

How to Take the Roads Out of Politics. 81 

Hydrated Lime in Road Construction. 180 

Maintenance of Earth Roads. 193 

Officers. 3 

Possible Lines of Improvement in Highway Contract Work. 294 

National Legislation for Good Roads. 29 

Report of Legislative Committee and Discussion. 46 

Resolutions Adopted. 47 

Rights of Way. 131 

Road Economics. 58 

Road Maintenance. 200 

Road Work by the Army. 286 

Roy, William R. 154 

Selecting Roads to be Improved. 171 

Simplified System of Town Highway Accounts. 56 

Sound Administration of Public Service. 91 

Speare, Lewis R. 27 

State Control of Road Construction. 117 

Street Construction and Maintenance. 337 

Surfaces for Light Volume Mixed Traffic. 157 

System in Road Management. 230 

Women’s Conference on Roads. 337 

Woodward, Mayor. 9 

Why Georgia Builds Top Soil Roads. 329 







































































FOURTH AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


HELD UNDER THE AUSPICES OF 

AMERICAN HIGHWAY ASSOCIATION 

AMERICAN AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION 

COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA 

ATLANTA, GEORGIA 

November 9th , 1914, 10 A.M. 

President A. B. Fletcher in the Chair 

The President: The Convention will please come to order. I 
have the honor to introduce the Right Reverend W. A. Candler, 
Bishop of Georgia. 

Dr. Candler: Let us pray: Our Father in Heaven we wor¬ 
ship Thee as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ from Whom com- 
eth every good and perfect gift. We are grateful for Thy good¬ 
ness unto us. Thou hast not dealt so with any other people. Thy 
providence has been over our nation through all the years as a 
very pillar of cloud and of fire. We thank Thee that our people 
are at peace, that the rude cries of war are not heard nor is there 
lamentations in our streets because they come not back who have 
gone in to the conflict. Thou hast given us abundant resources of 
every sort. We pray Thee to bless us with grateful hearts and 
faithful spirits that we may fulfill the mission set before us by the 
divine providence over us. Bless this assembly of men here met to 
consider a great interest that affects the social and moral and 
material welfare of our people; and the blessing of Almighty God be 
upon them individually and collectively that wisdom may char¬ 
acterize their conclusions and harmony their proceedings and that 
good may come to our land and as we affect other lands, to all lands 
through this meeting. God be merciful unto us and bless us and cause 
His face to shine upon us, that His name be known in the earth, 
his saving health among all people. We remember this day to 
pray for the stricken and disturbed peoples grappling with one 
another in contest of war. Oh Thou Prince of Peace, calm this 
combat, bind up the broken hearted and subdue the passions of men 
and let good prevail over all evil. Guide us by Thy counsel whilst 
we live and afterwards receive us into glory through Jesus Christ, 
our Lord. Amen. 


7 


8 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


The Chairman: I have the very great honor to present to 
you the Hon. John M. Slaton, Governor of California. (Laughter) 
—I mean Georgia. 

Governor Slaton: Ladies and Gentlemen: I suppose it was 
designed when the President introduced me as the Governor of 
California. The idea is that if we have good roads, all distances 
will be annihilated; California will be about as close to Atlanta 
as some parts of Georgia. The truth is that one of the benefits 
of good roads is this unification of the people and the introduction 
of them to each other. It is particularly appropriate that you 
should meet in Georgia. You understand that in 1834 the State 
of Georgia built the first State constructed railroad and it still owns 
it, a railroad between Atlanta and Chattanooga; and a railroad is 
nothing in the world but the evolution of a good road. We recog¬ 
nized the effect of transportation upon the welfare of the people 
and therefore we appropriated the money at a time when the people 
were in hard straits, in order to accomplish the purposes for which 
you have met. Now we all are acquainted with the benefit, in a gen¬ 
eral way, of good roads. We understand the effect upon the school- 
house and upon the church and upon rural life; we understand that 
it relieves the farmer of his burden of transportation, that; it aids 
in the construction of homes in communities where Nature can be 
enjoyed and where congested communities may be relieved, but we 
are glad to have you because you come for a practical purpose. 
You are with us to instruct us. There was a proud old house in 
Europe whose motto was “I serve,” and you gentlemen and ladies 
have come here in order to serve the State of Georgia. Our State 
is alive to the purpose for which you are organized. We appro¬ 
priated in 1911 $4,500,000 for the purpose of good roads. This 
includes, of course, the service of the convicts upon the roads, and we 
utilize them for that purpose and find that it is in accordance with 
wise penology as well as producing a return to the people for the 
expense which these criminals occasion. But there are problems 
that come before us as to the construction of roads. What we 
need now are not platitudes but specific advice. Problems are 
coming before us constantly as to the construction of roads— 
the engineering questions which arise—the question of upkeep, 
the question of materials from which they could be constructed; 
and therefore to you gentlemen we look. You represent the highest 
and most trained intelligence in the United States upon the sub¬ 
ject to enlighten us. You will find that all over Georgia there 
are County Commissioners and those who have the matter of con¬ 
struction of roads in charge who will be present and listen to what 
you all have to say, and when you are gone the seed you have sown 
will serve to benefit the State and its people. This idea of serv¬ 
ice is that which is abroad everywhere. I read the other day 
that the Japanese conquered Russia not by the valor and gallantry 


PROCEEDINGS 


9 


of their soldiers but by the skill and capacity of their engineers, 
and the battle was won by shooting over mountain tops by those 
who had calculated with the theodolite and knew the measure of 
the angle. You gentlemen, therefore, and ladies, have come to give 
us that information and when you have gone the effect of your visit 
will be remembered, not only for the social influence you have ex¬ 
erted, but because of the information you have left. Allow me 
to say that the people of Georgia are a kindly and generous people 
and in their behalf I welcome you into our midst. When you shall 
have left, I hope you will carry with you the kindest recollections 
of a people in whose behalf I welcome you. 

The Chairman: I take pleasure in introducing the Honorable 
James A. Woodward, Mayor of Atlanta. 

Mayor Woodward: Mr. President, members and visitors of 
the Fourth American Road Congress: It is always a pleasure rather 
than a duty placed upon the Mayor and the Governor of the State 
and city to give expression to words of welcome. I know that so 
far as Atlanta is concerned, it needs no words from me to tell you 
that you are welcome to this city. You are, and we are glad to 
have you. We want you to feel while here that the latch string 
of every door is open to you; if you don’t see what you want, ask 
for it and it will be shown you. You are within the walls of a city 
that is somewhat remarkable. Take the life of it; there are few 
American cities that can come anywhere near to what it has accom¬ 
plished. I do not refer to it in any spirit of alluding to war times, 
but take it from that time on. There was then possibly only ten or 
twelve thousand inhabitants in Atlanta. It reminds me—for I 
was here right after that fateful period—of what I read about what 
is going on in the old country now, the towns and cities that are 
being devastated. That was the condition of Atlanta at that time. 
People had come home without a dollar to invest but with all the 
desires and pluck and energy to build up their homes in a devastated 
country; and went to work. So you can see that Atlanta is really 
a city of about 40 years, and take all of its actual life since it was 
in the woods and it is in the span of a man’s lifetime of three score 
and ten; but Atlanta as you see it today has grown within the last 
20 or 25 years, even within the last 15 years. Fifteen years ago there 
was not an office building here except the Equitable Building. 
They have all been built within that time. Atlanta prides herself 
on being a city of more fireproof buildings—office skyscraping build¬ 
ings—than any city of twice its size within the confines of the Ameri¬ 
can continent. I imagine that a good many of you people who have 
come here from the west and the north, when you get into our 
streets, thought something of home. Now for the past 25 years we 
have given a great deal of time and a great deal of money has been 
expended in street buildings. I have not the exact figures with me 


10 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


now, but I should say that Atlanta has close to 200 miles of paved 
streets. The leadway that Atlanta has taken in such measures as 
that has gone a long way toward encouraging the people in the coun¬ 
try to build good roads, and as the Governor has well said, within the 
past few years they have turned the convicts from the lease system 
to that of appropriating them to the different counties for the pur¬ 
pose of building roads, and there is no one thing that I can call to 
mind that will do more toward the upbuilding of our country than the 
building of good roads. To the truth of what I have spoken to you 
as regards Atlanta and Fulton County, our County Commissioner 
will show you before you leave here. We are well provided—while 
we have not got enough—yet with good roads in Fulton County. 
You have got a convention here that is not only an educational one 
to our people in Atlanta, but to people from all over the country. 
You come here largely—one element at least—to display your road 
making machinery. The delegates to this convention have come 
here to investigate and satisfy themselves and see for themselves 
what class of machinery will aid them best in their work. It was 
quite appropriate for you to meet at this time in the gate city of the 
South, where possibly the building of good roads and the advance¬ 
ment of good road machinery is more necessary. It has been said 
that the advent of the automobile created extravagance, and pos¬ 
sibly that is true in one line, but we must all admit that the auto¬ 
mobile showed us the necessity for good roads; [applause] and in that 
manner was a blessing to the country and to humanity. Now in 
conclusion allow me to say that Atlanta extends to you a most 
gracious welcome. We are glad to have you within our city. We 
want your stay to be as pleasant as it can be made, and when the 
time comes for you to depart, we want it arranged in such measure 
that you will go away from Atlanta with a kind word, a good taste 
in your mouth for this city and may that all wise Being who is 
overlooking those loved ones you have left at home, preserve them 
in their good health until you return. Before I take my seat, I 
would like to inform all of the municipal people here—while we 
appreciate everybody that is in attendance on this convention—that 
the City Government desires that they register at the City Hall. 
We wish to meet you and give you what attention we can. 

Mr. Page takes the chair. 

The Chairman: Next on the program is the response by Presi¬ 
dent Fletcher. 

President Fletcher: Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen: The 
warmth of our welcome, the refreshing completeness of all the 
measures that have been taken for our comfort and the spirit of 
enthusiasm displayed by this great gathering of good roads workers 
makes us all from north, south, east and west glad that we are 
here. To His Excellency the Governor of Georgia and to his 


PROCEEDINGS 


11 


Honor the Mayor of Atlanta, I desire to express, on behalf of the 
delegates and visitors to the American Road Congress, their deep 
appreciation of this magnificent welcome. To those of you who 
are attending the American Road Congress for the first time, it 
may be of interest to hear a word or two as to why this great na¬ 
tional road meeting has become an established institution and a 
necessary factor in the working of the fundamental problem of 
road improvement. Interdependence of city and country, of pro¬ 
ducer, of shipper, of consumer, has developed to such a degree 
that the public road once of local importance has become of state 
wide and in many instances of interstate importance. This neces¬ 
sitates a readjustment of the burdens of cost, a recasting of the 
regulations of traffic while all this great passenger and freight 
traffic that now weaves in and out on this network of roads, has 
produced conditions of wear and introduced agencies of destruction 
which make new and difficult problems of construction and main¬ 
tenance for the engineer to solve. We are here therefore to discuss 
and devise better legislation, better systems of finance, better traffic 
regulations; to learn by discussion and exchange of experience of the 
types and of the methods of roads which are best adapted to meet 
the conditions of traffic which confront the highway engineer. We 
are here to urge that the time has come to take the public road out 
of politics, to handle it as we would a great business undertaking, 
and to urge the creation and development of a nation-wide corps 
of trained and efficient men who will make road building and main¬ 
tenance their life work. Gentlemen, you will hear these great 
questions discussed in detail at the various sessions of the Con¬ 
gress and I merely mention them at this time in the hope that you 
will take the proceedings of this Congress most seriously and devote 
every faculty of mind and heart toward making this year’s Congress 
useful to the American people in the highest degree. 

President Fletcher takes the Chair. 

The Chairman: I have the honor to introduce to you the Hon¬ 
orable Logan Waller Page, Director of the United States Office of 
Public Roads and President of the American Highway Association. 

Mr. President and Gentlemen: The fact that men eminent in the 
good roads movement are here from the far off Pacific Coast, from 
the Northwest, from New England and in fact from nearly all of the 
forty-eight states of the Union, demonstrates conclusively that the 
question of road improvement is no longer of merely local signifi¬ 
cance. It is proof that this great question is of nation wide im¬ 
portance, and well it may be so considered, for it touches human 
welfare at every angle and is a material factor in the development 
of education, in our home life and in religion, the three great funda¬ 
mentals of our civilization. 

You will hear during the sessions of this Congress the experience 


12 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


and the advice of the best known specialists on every phase of this 
great subject. I shall confine my remarks therefore to a few com¬ 
ments on what has been done to further the road movement during 
the past year, and along what lines we may hope for results during 
the year 1915. 

The Office of Public Roads, has an organized corps of collabora¬ 
tors composed of one representative at each State capital who makes 
monthly reports to the Office showing what has been accomplished 
in the State and what measures are contemplated or pending. 
Through this source of information we have ascertained that the year 
1914 has added to our mileage of hard surfaced roads a total of 
18,000 miles, which means that in the short space of twelve months 
we shall have added to our road system a mileage three-fourths 
as great as the total length of the National Roads of France. 

We are spending money on our roads with a rather free hand. 
Last year our total outlay, in money and labor, was in excess of 
$205,000,000, and I think we are safe in saying that the aggregate 
will reach $225,000,000 this year, or more than an average of $100 
per mile for every mile of highway throughout the United States. 
This average looms up as a rather impressive figure when I say that 
according to the best information available 20 per cent of the roads 
in an average county carry 80 per cent of the traffic. This great 
annual expenditure, therefore, if pro rated on the basis of the really 
important roads gives an average of something like $500 per mile 
per annum. 

Our system of road management is admittedly wasteful and in¬ 
efficient except for the few shining exceptions here and there, and 
I firmly believe that with good business methods and skillful super¬ 
vision we could save not less than $50,000,000 per year and obtain 
better results than we are now obtaining. 

An exceedingly important factor which has come into prominence 
in solving our road problems during the past ten years is that of 
convict labor. Many of the States are using their convicts in the 
building of roads and in the preparation of road materials, and I 
congratulate the State of Georgia on her lead of all States in this 
respect, for Georgia, I understand, now has a great road-working 
army of more than 5,000 convicts which are rapidly transforming 
the road system of the State. We have estimated that the total 
convict labor days on road work throughout the United States in 
1914 will exceed 3,000,000. 

As indicating the trend of this movement I may say that dur¬ 
ing the year the States of Ohio, New York, Wisconsin and West 
Virginia have authorized the use of convicts in this way, thus indi¬ 
cating that this policy has no geographical bounds to its field of 
usefulness. 

I wish particularly to call your attention to the work of the United 
States Office of Public Roads, not from any desire to boast of the 
results which we have accomplished but in order that you may 


PROCEEDINGS 


13 


understand the way in which this service of the government may 
be utilized to help your own local problem, if you need such help 
as the government may give. 

During the past ten years our engineers have supervised in all parts 
of the country the building of what we term Object Lesson Roads 
for the purpose of giving to the local officials direct instructions 
and advice on the best methods of construction. Recently we have 
found that an even more important problem is that of maintenance, 
for the practice is all too common of building excellent roads and 
then leaving them to disintegrate under the action of weather and 
traffic. Probably the most striking demonstration in proper methods 
of maintenance which has ever been undertaken as an Object Lesson 
was inaugurated by the Office of Public Roads last March at the 
suggestion and in cooperation with the American Highway Asso¬ 
ciation. 

Sections of road forming a continuous stretch in twenty-eight out 
of forty-nine counties between Washington and Atlanta have been 
voluntarily placed under the direction of government engineers 
by the county authorities and cash appropriations made for ex¬ 
penditure in such manner as these government engineers may direct. 

To facilitate the work and to permit the engineers to cover a 
relatively large territory, the American Highway Association sup¬ 
plied without cost to the government or the counties, three auto¬ 
mobiles. I think I am perfectly justified in saying that the improve¬ 
ment on these roads has equalled the most sanguine expectations 
of those who inaugurated the project. 

I have mentioned these examples of government work to indicate 
to you the basis upon which the government’s assistance is granted. 
There are many more projects under way designed to further the 
building and maintenance of good roads in accordance with sound 
economical principles and good engineering practice, and I wish to 
emphasize that all of the assistance which the government renders 
in this work is without any cost whatever to the local communities. 

I shall not review the work of the American Highway Association 
during the past year, as this information will be given out in the 
various annual reports of the officers and committees of that organi¬ 
zation; but I wish to comment most particularly upon a project 
which holds as great possibilities, in my judgment, for the better¬ 
ment of road management as any one project which has ever been 
undertaken. 

Last year at the Third American Road Congress a committee was 
appointed to take steps looking to a revision of State Road Laws. 
At the request of the committee the Office of Public Roads pre¬ 
pared a literal compilation of the Road Laws of each and every one 
of the forty-eight States, and the result is a huge accumulation of 
words exceeding 3,500,000 in number. This great manuscript is 
being cross-indexed and I understand that the committee will get in 
active touch with each State Legislature in an effort to bring about a 


14 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


simplification and a revision of the Road Laws at the earliest pos¬ 
sible moment. All that may be done along this line will be of last¬ 
ing benefit and will be enough of itself to justify a continued sup¬ 
port to this great organization. 

Within the past few months steps have been taken towards bring¬ 
ing to the support of the road movement, the united efforts of women 
in every county and in every community throughout the United 
States. This work has taken definite form through the establish¬ 
ment of a women’s department of the American Highway Associa¬ 
tion, with Mrs. Robert Baker, of Washington, as Chairman. The 
first conference under the auspices of this department will be held 
in the city of Atlanta tomorrow, and I am glad for the success of 
the movement that it is being launched here where it will profit by 
the wonderful Atlanta spirit of progress. I hope and believe that 
the women will accomplish marvelous results in bringing about 
through moral suasion an improvement of road conditions in rural 
communities, and in so doing help the cause of better schools, better 
churches and better homes. 

I will not go into any detailed statement of the objects and working 
plan of the women’s department, as this will be fully covered by 
addresses to be given later on in the week. I may say, however, 
that this work is designed to introduce particularly better road 
management and better maintenance of our public roads. 

I know that it is customary for speakers to extol all the good 
qualities of the cities in which meetings are held; but I wish to say 
more than the usual words of appreciation of Atlanta’s splendid 
hospitality and cordial spirit of cooperation. Not in my whole ex¬ 
perience in attending conventions have I come in contact with a 
courtesy so all-pervading, with a spirit of helpful cooperation so 
timely and practical, and with a knowledge of what needs to be done, 
and the energy in doing it, such as has been displayed by Atlanta 
in connection with this Congress. The arrangements are complete 
to the most minute details, and I can now well understand the 
marvelous progress which Atlanta has made and what is meant when 
people speak of the “ Atlanta Spirit.” 

In conclusion I wish to emphasize that the year of 1915 holds 
possibilities for progress in road betterment which we should avail 
ourselves of, not merely through zeal but through zeal coupled 
with knowledge. We have had ample opportunity to realize that 
we need better road legislation, and with so many legislatures in 
session this coming winter, we shall have the opportunity to accom¬ 
plish results through revision and constructive road legislation. 
We have seen what has been accomplished in those sections of country 
which have utilized in a practical way skilled supervision of road 
work. We have learned to our bitter cost the danger of allowing 
our well constructed roads to be left to deteriorate through lack 
of maintenance, and so we should make the year 1915 conspicuous; 
not so much through the spending of more money as through the 


PROCEEDINGS 


15 


wise and practical expenditure of the money that will be normally 
available. 

I might add that today you can go on a splendid road from 
Atlanta to Fredericksburg, Va., within 40 miles of Washington, 
and by next summer, you will be able to go from Atlanta to Rich¬ 
mond, Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Boston or 
Montreal on a perfect road, and that road is going to be maintained 
as such. 

The Chairman: The Governor, who was obliged to leave a few 
moments ago, has asked me to call your attention to the reception 
given by Governor and Mrs. Slaton to-night at 8 o’clock, and to 
extend you a cordial invitation to be present. I have also been 
asked to announce that there will be a Woman’s Conference on 
Roads in the ballroom of the Ansley Hotel at 10 o’clock and at 2 
o’clock to-morrow, Tuesday. There will be addresses by dis¬ 
tinguished women and an illustrated lecture by Mr. J. E. Penny- 
backer. All women are cordially invited. 

Mr. Robert P. Hooper former President of the American Auto¬ 
mobile Association will now address us. 

Mr. Hooper: I am taking the place of our absent president of 
the national organization of automobilists, who regretted exceed¬ 
ingly his inability to be present. My previous automobile visit 
to your hospitable city was during the big tour from New York to 
Jacksonville via Atlanta. Senator Hoke Smith, then your Governor, 
easily was the central figure of that tour, and repeatedly in various 
cities he spoke without hesitation for roads progress, as the head * 
of your State. Now, in the Senate of the United States, he has 
opportunity to use his great influence in a logical and effective plan 
of Federal roads participation. 

Roads improvement in Georgia is certainly proceeding in a most 
pronounced manner, and the day is near at hand when it will be 
just as comfortable to travel by road in Southern territory as is 
now the case in New England. Here is Fulton County, you have 
made a wonderful advance in roads construction, and furthermore, 
you give evidence that it is clear to you that the most used roads 
must be constructed in such manner as to stand the multiplying and 
heavier traffic. 

You are particularly fortunate in Georgia in having in Governor 
Slaton another chief executive who is not afraid to set forth quite 
plainly his good roads beliefs, and I thank him for the unhesitating 
manner in which he gives deserved credit to the motor-driven vehicle 
for the large part which it has played in this improvement of the 
avenues of communication. 

In brief, the A. A. A. believes that the Federal government should 
help the several States on their most important arteries of communi- 


16 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


cation, and then the States can cooperate more thoroughly with the 
county and township units in the essential lateral roads. 

It was my opportunity to have been the first active chairman of 
the A. A. A. National Good Roads Board. You will pardon me if I 
make reference to a speech delivered by me at Springfield, Massachu¬ 
setts, in September, 1907, at the Goods Roads and Legislative Con¬ 
vention called by that club and possessing the motto of “Good 
Roads and the Sane Use of Them. ,, In that convention certain 
speakers went out of their way to belittle the participation of the 
motorists in highway progress. I confess that I rather impatiently 
accepted this kind of talk until it came my turn to speak. This, 
briefly, is what I found myself saying: “I think it is time that some¬ 
one told of what the autoists have done. The movement for good 
roads was begun by the bicyclists and has been taken up and advanced 
by the autoists. Our damage to the roads has been more than off¬ 
set by the good work we have done in their behalf. I say that it is 
proper for the autoists to be compelled to obey the law; but we do 
object to the existing laws. Why should the automobilists pay a 
tax, when any wagon can draw any load over the same rdads? I 
see no reason why the wagon drivers should not help to support 
these roads. 

Perhaps we motorists at times become unduly optimistic, but I 
look forward to the day when we shall have highways connecting our 
several States the equal of those to be found in France. Further¬ 
more, there will be an exchange of road travelers between the North 
and the South that will be beneficial and educational to both sec¬ 
tions of the country. In no way can we become better acquainted 
than through the intimate channel of roads travel, for then we 
promptly discover that we are all only human beings, interdepend¬ 
ent one upon the other, and equally interested in the general welfare 
of our great country. 

When I came down South on this trip I expected to see before 
me a lot of men who were walking the streets of Atlanta in sackcloth 
and ashes. But instead of that, I hear you agreeing to spend money, 
and I hear you putting up propositions to build more roads. There¬ 
fore, we in the North cannot feel that you are as low in pocket as 
your “Buy a Bale of Cotton” movement would lead people all overthe 
United States to believe. Frankly, I think it is a great mistake for 
my southern friends to circulate all over the country, this “Buy a 
Bale of Cotton” movement, indicating that you are financially broke, 
beoause you are not. We will give you credit, and we are glad to 
give you anything you want at any time. 

The Chairman: I am sorry to announce that the Hon. A. W. 
Campbell, Deputy Minister of Railways and Canals, Government 
of Canada, will not be with us this morning. It gives me great 
pleasure to introduce the Hon. Hoke Smith, United States Senator 
from Georgia. 


PROCEEDINGS 


17 


Senator Smith: Mr. Chairman , Ladies and Gentlemen: The 
first notice I had that I was expected to address you this morning 
was when, after breakfast, I read the morning paper, and found 
that I was on the program. I should have been very much dis¬ 
turbed by the announcement had I not seen the further statement 
that it was to be a general address, from which I understood that I 
was not expected to show in any way before you expert road build¬ 
ers, my ignorance of the subject of expert work in the construction of 
roads, but that I was permitted to talk generally about anything 
I want to talk about rather than upon technical road building. 

I am deeply interested in your gathering and in your work, I agree 
with my friend who has just taken his seat, that we had rather an 
overdrawn picture of the great public highway that stretches from 
here to Fredericksburg, and will soon stretch from Fredericksburg 
to Canada. I agree with him that it is well paved with good inten¬ 
tions, but unfortunately with nothing else. Now, just a word about 
the “Buy a Bale of Cotton’’ movement. I wish to say that if any 
one came here expecting to see a poverty stricken section, he was 
vastly mistaken. 

Mr. Hooper: I did not say that I did, Senator. 

Senator Smith: He has come to the greatest section in natural 
agricultural resources in the world, and I say that advisedly, and 
I will prove it with just two or three statements. In this section 
with proper attention, the soil per acre will produce as much food¬ 
stuffs as any soil that can be found anywhere. It begins equal in 
food producing capacity with any acreage in the world, then it fur¬ 
nishes to our nation a monopoly in the great raw material that 
must clothe the world. 

From whatever section of our common country you may come, you 
should feel proud of the fact that our United States has a monopoly 
in the production of the raw material that is necessary to clothe the 
world. 

They can raise in India a very short staple cotton, but they can¬ 
not make much out of it unless they mix our American cotton with 
it. They can raise in Egypt some very long staple and very fine 
cotton, but it is limited in its use, and it is our cotton, or cotton 
that is produced in our common country, that is absolutely essential 
to clothe the world and our cotton crop is growing more and more 
important every year for this nation. [Applause.] 

I am deeply interested in the good roads problem; not exactly 
in the same way that my friend Mr. Hooper is. He always thinks 
of a great national highway to run his automobile over, and to have 
a splendid Glidden tour over. I am in favor of that kind of good 
roads, but the good road that interests me most is the good road that 
is to help build up that upon which our country rests for its pros¬ 
perity more than any thing else. [Applause] Every country, ours 


18 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


especially, rests for its wealth producing power upon agriculture and 
manufacture. Agriculture produces something. The mill adds to 
the value of the raw material by changing it into something of addi¬ 
tional value. Commerce handles these products; the railroads trans¬ 
port them, but the wealth producing power of the nation is found 
in our agriculture and in our mills, and our manufacturing com¬ 
panies must rest upon our agriculture for their raw material as the 
people of the world must rest upon agriculture for their food. So I 
place first among the things that should receive the attention of a 
nation, the agriculture of a nation. 

No nation ever lapsed, no nation ever went backwards while mak¬ 
ing progress in its agriculture. Now our manufacturing enter¬ 
prises are ahead in world progress as compared to our agriculture. 
We rank with the best in manufacturing lines, but we are behind 
in agriculture. We do not produce per acre in agriculture what 
is produced in other countries. We have not studied agricul¬ 
ture scientifically as agriculture has been studied in other coun¬ 
tries. We have not handled our soil with the consciousness of 
the fact that each year that which we took out of it we must put 
back with more to increase its strength and power. We have 
rather, through the richness of our soil, handled it with waste¬ 
fulness and have each year been disposed to lessen the real resources 
of our soil rather than to add to it and increase it. 

We have neglected the roads in our rural sections; we have left 
rural life isolated; we have left rural life where facilities to reach 
the schoolhouse have been lacking, where facility to reach the church 
has been lacking. We have left it where the people in rural sec¬ 
tions ofttimes seek the town rather than live upon the farm because 
of the lack of opportunity, on account of bad roads, to pass from 
place to place. 

I look upon the good road problem as preeminently a national 
service. Because it is to lessen the cost of transportation of agri¬ 
cultural products, and the cost of transportation to the farm of 
that which is needed on the farm, and because it is to take from 
rural life its isolation and help make rural life all it should be in 
its beauty and its charm. 

I believe we have just begun a great national progress toward the 
development of the farm. Fifty years ago we established our national 
agricultural colleges through the Morrell Bill, giving the landscript 
in each State to an agricultural college. They struggled along 
until now in every State, supported by State taxation as well as 
by the Morrell landscript fund, we have I think in every State a 
splendid agricultural college. 

Twenty-five years ago, we passed a bill to establish the experi¬ 
ment stations, and for 25 years we have had our agricultural col¬ 
leges and our experiment stations. Vast stores of knowledge have 
been gathered in these two institutions, but they have been on cold 
storage, they have just been there undistributed. You cannot 


PROCEEDINGS 


19 


carry that information to the farm and put it to work simply by cir¬ 
cularizing those engaged on the farm. 

Within the last 12 months, Congress has passed a bill for agri¬ 
cultural extension work. Starting with the first of this last July, 
each State received from the national government $10,000 for this 
purpose. The appropriation increases year by year until it reaches 
$6,000,000, each State beyond the $10,000 being required to dupli¬ 
cate from its own treasury what it receives from the national gov¬ 
ernment, and all that is known in the experiment stations and the 
agricultural colleges is to be carried to the farm home and by dem¬ 
onstration on the farm, given for the use of every farmer. In our 
own country it has been tried to a limited extent. Dr. Knapp was 
the great leader of farm demonstration work in the United States, 
but he turned back to Germany for the highest character of work 
of this kind. Those wonderful people who today are standing 
off all of Europe, not by their numbers but by their training; those 
wonderful people 50 years ago realized the necessity of carrying 
accurate and scientific knowledge in agriculture to the farmer’s 
home, and the Wonderlehrer and Wonderlehrerin, the traveling 
teacher of Germany, carried to the home of the farmer, through men 
and women, all of the scientific knowledge of the soil that the col¬ 
lege could acquire and the experiment station demonstrate, and 
gave it with practical illustration alongside the farmer’s home, 
upon the farmer’s land, and the Wonderlehrerin of Germany, the 
woman, traveled from place to place and carried the knowledge 
of domestic science and of all those things which study and in¬ 
vestigation could acquire, apd gave it to the German woman on the 
farm. 

Now our agriculture extension bill, passed last February inau¬ 
gurates for our country a great system of instruction at the home 
of the farmer by which we expect to see the next 10 years revolu¬ 
tionize the productive strength of the soil of our country, and help 
to make the farm home more beautiful, more hygienic, more cap¬ 
able of developing splendid men and women, for after all, legisla¬ 
tion and work in our country should place commerical progress far 
behind the problem of developing the men and women of our country. 

We have added another measure, last January, a market bill it is 
called, and starting with the first of July, the Agricultural Depart¬ 
ment has $250,000 to be spent this year to organize the farmers 
for the study of the better preparation and the better marketing 
of their products, and for the study of the condition of the people 
in the cities that they may be brought in closer touch with the 
farmer and be prepared to get the benefit of the better marketing 
by the farm, to bring consumer and producer closer together, that the 
enormous economic waste that has been going on may be brought to 
an end. 

Secretary Wilson, who for so many years made this country a great 
Secretary of Agriculture, said not long ago that for every 50 cents 


20 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


the farmer got for what he raised, the ultimate consumer paid a 
dollar, and then he asked “What becomes of the other 50 cents?” 
An investigation of the question shows that but a small percentage 
of it goes to transportation and but a small percentage of it really 
has gone to the middle man; the bulk of it has been an economic 
waste, and we are seeking and will continue to seek to make a live 
part of the work of the National Agriculture Department the study 
of the problem of marketing, that the product of the farm may 
bring more to the producer and yet go to the ultimate consumer 
at a less cost than he pays today. That one-half waste can at least, 
half of it, be saved, and if a fourth of that went to the farmer and a 
fourth of it went to the consumer, splendid would be the improve¬ 
ment for both. 

Then we have added a practical parcels post, progressive and 
developing, through which we furnish the means for the farmer and 
the man in the city, the ultimate consumer, to get closer together, 
and the merchant and the farmer, without waste, to get closer 
together. Those are three things that have been done for agricul¬ 
ture, another is lacking, it takes a fourth. The fourth is good roads. 

Do not allow charming advocates of great national highways to 
sweep away from your minds the thought that the greatest of all 
good that can come from good roads is the development of the 
agriculture of our country. 

Nobody likes his automobile better than I do, and nobody enjoys 
a great national highway or a Glidden tour more than I do, for I rode 
with our friend Mr. Hooper from New York through to Atlanta 
on one of those tours. They are splendid, but their chief value is 
that they may stimulate better roads away from the great high¬ 
ways. If we are to simply have the great highways and nothing 
more, I would give little for them as an economic force to develop 
the country, but as an inspiration to build feeders all around, and 
to have good roads every where, I recognize their value and I am 
thankful for them. Ah, gentlemen, as we study the people of 
Europe, as we study, the force and the intelligence that they are 
wasting in a horrible struggle, as we thank God that we are at peace 
and ask His blessing to every movement for a world wide peace, 
we come to the study of our own people, and we come to the greatest 
problem that confronts a country, the development of men and 
women; and we are made conscious of the fact that there is no 
greater duty resting upon any individual than to contribute all 
he can to the mental and moral growth, to the character building 
of the great body of the men and women of the United States. And 
believing as I do that the broadest field for the development of our 
people is found among those who live in rural sections, and be¬ 
lieving as I do that the isolation of rural life has been one of the 
greatest drawbacks to the development, to the furnishing of an 
opportunity to our people in rural sections, I congratulate you 
upon your gathering and I wish you God speed in everything that 
you may do to help make better roads all over our country. 


PROCEEDINGS 


21 


The Chairman: I am going to call now on several good roads 
enthusiasts for short talks. I will call first on Mr. Leonard Tufts, 
Chairman of the Executive Committee of the American Highway 
Association. 

Mr. Tufts: Mr. President , Ladies and Gentlemen: There is 
a little mix-up on this question, this through road. Mr. Hooper 
has my deepest sympathy. After talking with him I find that 
the route he took is not the route Mr. Page was discussing at all. 
I went over Mr. Hooper’s route some three or four years ago; it 
rained every day I was on the trip and it took me 16 days to cover 
about 1000 miles and I was stuck in the mud 16 times; not all in one 
place, but in many places. So Mr. Hooper has my deepest sym¬ 
pathy. The road that Mr. Page spoke of is not entirely improved. 
As I believe he told you, only some 28 of the 47 counties have been 
accepted for maintenance, but the improvement in those counties 
is very remarkable. In one section in northern North Carolina 
an excellent road was built some 10 years ago and I went over it last 
year when we were making these arrangements for the office of 
public roads to look out for maintenance, and there was no visible 
sign of its ever having been improved. That all has been brought 
back again into its original shape and is very good now. What 
the American Highway Association and the office of public roads 
are interested in in this through road is simply a demonstration 
to the people of the system of maintenance and in that it is bound 
to do a tremendous lot of good. Georgia I understand, has not been 
accepted as a maintenance proposition except in a few counties. 

I came down here some 8 or 9 months ago with Mr. Pennybacker 
to look over the question of holding the Road Convention in At¬ 
lanta and I was never more surprised than when I learned of the 
change in the streets here. Those of you who are not from Atlanta 
will be interested to know that it was necessary to re-grade cer¬ 
tain streets here and in some places to make deep cuts of some 10 
feet and I don’t know but what it was perhaps more. Only a small 
portion of the expense was borne by the city. Most of that work 
was done by the people who had property on those streets. They 
made no claims for damages; I understand they all signed off before 
the grades were made, so that there were no damages paid by the 
city. Many of the buildings had to be re-built and the expenses 
were great. It is such cooperation as that that you have here in 
Atlanta that counts, and it is such cooperation as that, that we 
expect on our roads throughout the State. 

We came here to look after space for exhibits. We were told 
that we could use this street by the side here; we were told that we 
could use the space under the viaduct. It seemed absurd to me 
that a city would give up a street in the heart of the city for ex¬ 
hibition purposes, but it was done and it is that sort of cooperation 
that counts. Thank you. 


22 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


The Chairman: I will next call on Mr. George W. Cooley, 
State Highway Engineer of Minnesota. 

Mr. Cooley: Mr. Chairman , Ladies and Gentlemen: I don’t 
know why I should be called upon at this time unless it is to fill 
up a little space in the program, because I am really not due until 
Wednesday afternoon at 2 o’clock, according to contract. If I 
should talk very much now on the subject to which I will allude 
in my formal address, it would seem like a waste of time. I am 
going to touch Wednesday on two special points that have already 
been outlined here by Mr. Page and other speakers. The question 
preeminently before us now is the question of maintenance. There 
is no use in constructing a road, no matter how good or what class of 
material it is made of, unless some provision is made to maintain 
it and we have the experience of all our western States, or most of 
them, and the eastern States, especially in maintaining roads, and 
I expect to hear from them Wednesday afternoon in the considera¬ 
tion of the paper that I will read at that time. 

The Chairman: Mr. Sidney Suggs, Chairman of the Oklahoma 
Highway Commission will please come up to the platform. 

Mr. Suggs: Mr. Sargeant-at-arms, I wish you would close that 
door. I am not in the habit of having men leave the hall when I am 
speaking. I had an audience of 1500 not long ago, and not one of 
them left the hall during my three hours’ talk. Some of them 
cried. Some of them said “Damn it.” Some of them went to 
sleep, but there was not one of them left the hall; not one. Did I 
say who it was I was addressing? Why it was the inmates of the 
Oklahoma Penitentiary on the subject of the Honor System. So 
you see they could not leave. I am like my friend here who re¬ 
marked that this was not his time. I want you to be here though 
when my time comes, because I am going to tell you how it hap¬ 
pened in Oklahoma in my native way, just like I would talk it to 
Oklahoma people. I am going to tell you that you are not religious 
people, you are infidels if you are not in favor of good roads, you are 
absolutely—undesirable citizens. That is the idea. I tell them 
I can prove it by the Bible and I proceed to do it. It has been some 
time since I read that portion of the Scriptures, but the way I re¬ 
member it, it says that any man that will not provide for his family 
is worse than an infidel. Does that mean to buy them something 
to wear in the shape of 5 cent muslin, cotton goods, or a little some¬ 
thing to eat? I say no, if a man undertakes to raise a family and 
provide for it, it means not only food and clothing but it means 
schools, books, music, flowers and it means contentment, what 
God Almighty intended for his children to have in this world and 
the man that don’t provide those things for his family is not a de¬ 
sirable citizen. Now that is the way I talk to them in Oklahoma 


PROCEEDINGS 


23 


and I make them take it. I tell them that if they have anything 
to say about it, to look me in the eye and say it while I am here. 
If they want to criticize me, do it while I am present so that I can 
defend myself. Don't wait until I get off and say “Well that's a 
lot of hot air.” I tell them to do with what we have, we need not 
wait for an earthquake, we need not wait for another European 
war—take advantage of this one. I like the machinery man; I 
like to meet him; I like to see the fire of business in his eye; I like 
to talk to him about road building machinery. I like to see the man 
with the material and get acquainted with his methods, but in 
Oklahoma, provide the ways and means and there will be no dearth 
of material and machinery. I tell them down there that when Elias 
was going through the country and met that widow who had to 
sell her children to pay the funeral expenses of her dead husband, 
as was the custom of that day and time, he did not ask her what 
political pull she had, he did not ask her what her bank account 
was, he asked her what she had in the house. She told him a few 
jars and a little oil. He told her what to do with what she had, 
go into the house, go and borrow jars and not be saving, but to 
borrow all she could, and that is the first time I remember seeing 
the word borrow in the Bible; but she went and did what Elias told 
her, and what was the result? She had plenty of oil for her family; 
enough to pay her debts and enough to live on for some time after¬ 
wards, because she did with what she had. We in Oklahoma have got 
to do with what we have and make the best of it. I like the way Hoke 
Smith talked; in some respects I was highly entertained, but I want 
to say to him and to you all that I believe, my friends, we have got 
to build the main trunk lines before we build the laterals; at least 
we have got to start the trunk lines, to set the example. I believe 
it is as much the government’s duty to assist in the building of these 
roads as to build $500,000,000 canals; this money belongs to all the 
people, and we have been waiting, and waiting for the construction 
of roads. Whenever they start to build those trunk lines, when¬ 
ever the government becomes interested in those things, the States 
will become interested, and when the State becomes interested the 
counties and the townships become interested and we will build up 
the system, but if the national government waits for the State, and 
the State waits for the county and the county waits for the town¬ 
ship, it will be a waiting outfit, and I am afraid we will wait until 
some of us go over the range. I want to see something done. 

I am a convention fiend, I go to all of them; if I have not got 
the money to go, I borrow it, because I like to go to a convention 
and mix and mingle with men that I believe are trying to do some 
good for the future of the country. I am glad to be with you; I 
want to get acquainted with all of you. Sometimes down in my 
State it seems to me I need more friends than I have; I talk roads 
until they say it is a habit. I went to a hanging one day—I am a 
newspaper man, I have been in the newspaper business a long time 


24 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


and am still running the paper, don’t have to do anything but look 
after the payroll, four boys run the paper—but I was at a hanging 
and there were 5000 people there to witness it and when the Sheriff 
brought the prisoner out he said, “We are here 15 minutes ahead 
of time. There is a great crowd of your friends here; if you want 
to say anything to them, you have 15 minutes to do it.” He said, 
“Yes, I presume they are all my friends or they would not have 
come here to see me hung, but I have warned them everywhere I 
could and I don’t know that there is anything more I care to say.” 
Then I jumped up and said, “There are 5000 people here and if the 
gentlemen will yield the time, I would like to tell them a little about 
good roads,” and I asked the gentleman who was going to be hung 
3 he would yield the time. He said, “Well, I think Mr. Suggs ought 
to be allowed to talk good roads; I understand that’s all he does 
and I am perfectly willing, but Mr. Sheriff, please hang me first.” 
Now gentlemen, I want to meet all of you. 

The Chairman: We will now adjourn until 2 o’clock this after¬ 
noon, at the same place. 

November 9 y 2 P.M. 

Mr. George Diehl in the chair 

The Chairman: Ladies and Gentlemen: The afternoon session 
is devoted to the subject of Federal Aid, and is in charge of the Ameri¬ 
can Automobile Association. I was asked to introduce the chair¬ 
man of the afternoon, and it was not my intention to say anything. 
But after hearing the speech of the eminent and eloquent Senator 
from this State, wherein he indicated that he had not exactly in his 
mind the idea of the work that the American Automobile Association 
is doing, I think a short statement of what the American Automobile 
Association stands for in the matter of good roads, and why they now 
have their principal headquarters in Washington might not be amiss. 

The A. A. A. believes in Federal aid in highway construction. 
The A. A. A. believes that within a year or two at the most the Fed¬ 
eral Government will make appropriations to assist in constructing 
important roads. The A. A. A. believes that should be done for sev¬ 
eral reasons; first that these roads should be paid for in proportion 
to the benefit received. The construction of these roads not only 
benefits the farmer, but the inhabitants of the city, as Senator Smith 
said this morning; and the reduction in the cost of transportation 
is not only a benefit to the farmer but to the city resident as well, 
and it is no more than right that the city should help pay for good 
roads. 

For over a hundred years an effort has been made to maintain 
roads by the expense being borne solely by the locality, and at the 
end of the hundred years, the roads were not much better than at 


PROCEEDINGS 


25 


the outset. Then the States of Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachu¬ 
setts and New York enacted laws providing for State aid, and in 
some of the larger counties laws were passed providing for county 
aid. The idea of county aid where a county contained a large city 
was merely an effort to distribute the cost of construction between 
the rural and urban localities, and in a county where there was a 
large city, a fair distribution was often obtained by a county aid law. 
In other places, however, counties contained no large cities and the 
cities which benefited from the construction of those roads did not 
bear the expense; and so came the adoption of State aid laws. 

In the richer Eastern States that contain the large cities this pro¬ 
vided for an equitable distribution of expense; but the roads which 
are constructed in the far Western States and the Central States and 
the Southern States, which bring the wheat and other products to 
the railroad, where in turn they are brought to the larger cities, 
these roads benefit to an equal extent, or to a certain extent, the 
great cities of New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Boston, and 
the only way in which those cities can bear their proportion of ex¬ 
pense is by enlarging the unit which is taxed for these roads, and that 
is one of the arguments for Federal aid in highway construction. 

Just to give you a little illustration of the difference in the tax¬ 
able assets of the various States of the Union—the State of Massa¬ 
chusetts has about 20,000 miles of roads and about $4,000,000,000 of 
taxable assets; that means $200,000 of taxable assets for every mile 
of highway. The State of Nevada has only got $700 per mile to tax; 
they have got one three-hundredths part of the taxing ability to 
build their roads that the State of Massachusetts has. One-half 
of the States in the Union have got less than $10,000 per mile; one- 
half of the States have only a twentieth of the ability of the State of 
Massachusetts or New York, and it is also on that theory that the 
government should assist in this burden, as there are many counties 
in this country which cannot afford to build roads without assist¬ 
ance, and there are also States which need assistance in construction 
of highways. Therefore, one of the fundamental principles that 
this Association stands for is that the government should assist in 
highway construction, also that every political sub-division has a 
vital duty to perform, and that the township, county, and State 
each has a duty and that the Federal Government has a duty. 

Very often the phrase is used by public speakers and seen in the 
good roads press, that what we want is good roads from the farm 
to the railroad station or from the farm to the market, and that we 
don’t want “peacock lanes” across the country for a few motorists; 
and I am afraid that Senator Smith fell into that error in thinking 
that the Automobile Association is trying to have roads constructed 
from ocean to ocean or from the Great Lakes to the Gulf. What 
we stand for is that the government money should be spent on main 
market highways and that it should not be spent on lateral or unim¬ 
portant highways. 


26 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


The statement has often been made that the construction of 
roads is a local question, and men oppose county, State, or Federal 
aid because it is a local question. It is a local question, but it is also 
a county question, a State question, and a national question. If the 
farmer starts from his farm with a load of produce for the market, 
he passes over his own land and the roads on his own land until he 
reaches a public highway ; then he passes over that public highway 
until he gets to a more important highway, and then passes over 
that until he reaches a highway which runs through three or four 
townships and is what might be called a county highway; then he 
frequently passes over a highway which connects the great centers 
of population and is a State highway. It must be perfectly evident 
that the construction and improvement of the road on his own 
property is purely a personal matter, and that he should keep up the 
road on his own farm. It is equally apparent that the road which is 
used only by the people of the township is a purely local question and 
should be kept up by the township, and that the State and Federal 
government should not be asked to assist in the construction and 
maintenance of that road; and that, on the other hand, the county 
thoroughfare should be cared for by the counties, and that the 
State should care for the State highways, and that the national 
government, in turn, should assist in the construction of those roads 
which necessarily come within the jurisdiction of the national gov¬ 
ernment and are of inter-state importance. 

I want to draw your attention to one fact, that this talk of build¬ 
ing the road from the farm to the railroad station is something we all 
agree on; but we believe in starting at the railroad station, because 
you can readily see the question would arise “A road from what 
farm?” “Every farm?” Of course, if a road goes from every farm 
to the railroad station, then every mile of road in the United States 
will be built; there are 2,000,000 miles of road, and everybody knows 
that all of the highways cannot be constructed at once. We claim 
that those roads should be constructed first which carry the greatest 
volume of the tonnage and accommodate the greatest number of 
people; that the road should start at the railroad station and work 
toward the farm, start at the main center of the population and 
work toward the farm. 

The statement is also made that the railroads of the country are 
the natural highways of the country. It is perfectly true that the 
railroads do carry and will carry for years the great through traffic; 
but the local traffic is largely being carried by either electric roads 
or motor vehicles; in fact in New York State it is not at all uncom¬ 
mon to see delivery wagons 40, 50, and 60 miles from the cities. 
Consequently we advocate the main roads to be built first, and those 
are the two fundamental principles that this Association is working 
for: that the government should aid, and that the government 
money should be spent only on the main thoroughfares and should 
not be dissipated by trying to spend it on 2,000,000 miles of road. 


PROCEEDINGS 


27 


We feel confident that real results will be obtained, that the roads 
the government builds will furnish examples for the various States, 
and we believe that this work should not of necessity be done by the 
government, but that the State highway officials, in cooperation 
with the government, should agree on the roads, the plans, and the 
specifications, and on the various features of the contract. Then 
it is only a question of time before those great national roads and the 
State highways will form the backbone from which will radiate the 
county roads and the township roads and the whole will be combined 
into one properly connected and well developed system of highways, 
which together with the use of motor vehicles, will make for the 
greatest development this country has ever known. 

I did not start to make a speech, but I want to impress these two 
things on your mind: that the American Automobile Association or 
the organized motorists of this country are not standing for roads 
upon which to run a Glidden tour or roads from ocean to ocean, 
but they do stand for government aid in the construction of highways, 
and for State, county, and township aid; and we do say that the 
government money should only be spent on the main roads of this 
country and that it would be foolish to spend and dissipate it on 
2 or 3,000,000 miles of roads. 

It is now my pleasure to introduce a gentleman who has been presi¬ 
dent of the American Automobile Association, is president of the 
Massachusetts State Automobile Association, and a man who is promi¬ 
nent in the social and business life of the city of Boston and has been 
well known for years as a sturdy advocate of road construction, Mr. 
Lewis R. Speare. 

Mr. Speare then took the Chair. 

The Chairman: Ladies and Gentlemen: Mr. Diehl informed 
me that I was only supposed to get up here and say a few words, and 
give people time to get in here so they could hear the good roads 
speeches, and the few ideas that I have were covered so admirably 
that it would sound very foolish for me to attempt to cover them 
again. As he stated, I come from the State of Massachusetts, 
where we had the first Highway Commission and the first real 
organized work on State highways of any State in the Union. We 
have some good roads, quite a number of them, and when we got 
down to real work, we built our main highways, and you never 
find that the Grange or the farmer in our State objects to the policy 
of the State in building its main highways first. Those highways 
have been of great benefit to the agricultural work of our Common¬ 
wealth. We are not, of course, a large agricultural State, but I 
heard one member, a lecturer of the Grange on one occasion, give an 
account of agricultural work in Massachusetts, and he referred to 
the fact that our State roads had made possible the cultivation of 
onions throughout the Connecticut valley, to such an extent that 
the Bermudas had almost been driven out of our markets, and he 


28 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


gave facts and figures on loads carried over the State roads compared 
to what had formerly been carried over the old roads. The farmers 
in the New England States are most enthusiastic over our roads. You 
must remember that all automobilists do not own high priced cars, 
but that the great bulk of cars today are those sold at the low 
prices, and the biggest trade for automobiles is from the farmer— 
what you might call the farmer interests. This country seems to be 
divided into about three parts, one-third being real farmers, the 
second those who call themselves farmers and perhaps are going 
to farm some day, and the remainder, all those who are looking for¬ 
ward to the time when they can simply farm. All through Massa¬ 
chusetts we had abandoned farms; and, in fact, throughout our New 
England States we had farm after farm that had been abandoned. 
Why have they now disappeared from the market? At the present 
moment you have to pay more for a farm anywhere within fifty 
miles of Boston than you would if you were to buy an elegant place 
within eight miles of Boston. The automobile and good roads 
have brought those farms to the attention of people and they are 
being occupied and owned as summer homes, and the abandoned 
farm in .the New England States is a thing of the past. You will 
have to hunt with a fine tooth comb to find any abandoned farms 
in New England to-day. 

I do not propose to take up your time, but I want to emphasize 
what Mr. Diehl has so admirably covered, that the American Auto¬ 
mobile Association is not a pleasure touring organization. The great¬ 
est work we have is the Good Roads work and we are working for all 
the people and for good roads in all parts of our country. We call 
attention to the fact also that for military purposes this govern¬ 
ment needs roads. We would be in a sorry plight if we did get into 
trouble and had no better roads that we have today for moving our 
troops, etc., and whoever heard of a railroad building its feeders 
before it built its trunk lines? Now we believe in building the trunk 
line roads and then building the feeders to their natural sources, 
and if you get a good road, the farmers who live near that road 
will take hold, and the whole community will take hold and get a 
pretty fair road connected with that trunk road, so we do believe 
that the national government should aid in the building of through 
inter-state roads, that the States should take hold of the lateral 
roads, and the counties, cities and towns of the feeders. I have 
great pleasure in introducing to you at the present time Congress¬ 
man Borland. He is from Missouri, and therefore he can show us, 
and I am very glad to have a good audience here to hear him. I 
have only one request to make, and that is, that on account of the 
number of ladies who have favored us with their presence today, 
the gentlemen kindly refrain from smoking. 


NATIONAL LEGISLATION FOR GOOD ROADS 


29 


NATIONAL LEGISLATION FOR GOOD ROADS 

By Representative Wm. P. Borland 
Of Missouri 

The subject of good roads is one upon which city and country 
are united in a common interest. I have the good fortune to repre¬ 
sent a congressional district which contains a city of over a quarter 
of a million people but which also contains a large and populous 
rural county. I feel able to speak after considerable personal inves¬ 
tigation upon the subject of the absolute identity of interest of the 
city and country upon this matter. Good roads are beneficial alike 
to the city and the country. In fact they are vital to the interest 
of the rural section and of the small town. The city which can 
depend for transportation upon the great trunk lines of the rail¬ 
roads could very easily get along under present conditions with a 
purely local system of highways connecting the farm with the nearest 
railroad station. This system will drain the country of all of its 
resources, agricultural and financial and will draw to the city like 
a powerful agent the social and religious life of the small communities. 

Those who advocate the system of purely local highways con¬ 
necting the farm with the nearest railroad station are seeking to 
perpetuate and strengthen a system which has built up enormous 
cities by a steady drain of wealth and population from the country 
districts. Everything in modern industrial life has tended to the 
aggrandisement of the cities and the destruction of the small town. 
It would be very easy to build a system of highways under the 
present enthusiasm for good roads that would have practically the 
same effect. Such highways would be what are commonly called 
post roads whose only purpose is to get the produce out of the 
country district at the earliest possible moment into the big centers. 
A system of highways can be built however which will do more 
towards the social, beneficial and industrial upbuilding of the small 
towns and rural communities than anything else in modern life. 

Such a system of highways would open up every section of our 
country, turn the streams of wealth and population back again to 
the rural districts, make the small towns again the center of indus¬ 
trial and social activity and check the terrible drain of wealth and 
population towards the cities. 

The time has arrived for cooperation between the State and nation 
on the subject of road building. I have always been an advocate 
of federal road legislation because I believe the subject is one of 
national importance. The rural highway is the first link in the 
great chain of transportation. Over the rural highway goes annu¬ 
ally the food supply of the nation. Every pound of raw material 
destined for the factories of our land and all of the great export 
wealth which moves abroad must begin its journey to market over 
the rural road. No more national subject is before the American 


30 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


people at this time than that of good roads. It is not sufficient 
merely to spend money under the attractive title of a road fund. 
It would be perfectly easy to do this with considerable political 
success for a few years, but as soon as the people find that they 
were getting no results for their money a very violent revulsion of 
feeling would occur which might easily make road legislation a 
scandal and a reproach. What is needed at this time therefore is 
not simply to work up an enthusiasm for the expenditure of public 
money for roads, but to work out a sane and practical system by 
means of which th§ roads can be secured at a minimum expense 
and maintained in passable condition without unreasonable burden 
on the people. For more than a century we have struggled along 
under the most clumsy and archaic road system from which a country 
ever suffered. We have confided the building and maintenance of 
our public highways to the smallest political sub-division known to 
our governmental system. This policy of isolated local control was 
adopted from the English common law at a time when England was 
a hermit nation with three-fourths of her land in virgin forests which 
were hiding places for bold bands of outlaws, and at a period in her 
growth when more than 90 per cent of her educated citizens went 
to foreign universities for their schooling. We have borrowed that 
system of local control over the highways born in such an age of 
English jurisprudence and have retained it long after the mother 
country has abandoned it. We have tried to adapt it to a great 
undeveloped country 3000 miles in extent, most of which is removed 
from the seaboard and even remote from natural water courses. 
The only wonder is that we have succeeded in developing our country 
at all under such an expensive and burdensome system. We have 
expected the little local road district to build and maintain highways 
without aid in most cases either from the county or the State, and 
with no aid whatever from the nation, although the duty they were 
performing was largely a national one and the burden they were 
assuming was for the direct benefit of the great centers of wealth 
and commerce. The problem before us now is to equalize the bur¬ 
den of taxation so that the wealth which is drawn from the produc¬ 
tion of the agricultural regions of the country and centralized in 
the great cities of the State and nation and in the great export 
markets of the east, shall be available to carry a portion of the 
burden of building and maintaing the good roads of the country. 
The narrow gauge politician will see in this only an attempt to 
procure money from the public treasury for a particular locality, the 
broad gauge statesman will see in it the equalization of the burdens 
of government for the common benefit of the productive forces of 
the country. 

The failure of our present road system is due to many causes, 
but they are all traceable to the one feature of the isolated local 
control of the road district. Each little road district is expected 
to maintain the best highways that it can under the legal powers 


NATIONAL LEGISLATION FOR GOOD ROADS 


31 


which the State chooses to give it, with the taxable wealth that it hap¬ 
pens to have at its command and without any scientific or technical 
knowledge of the subject of road building except what can be picked 
up by an honest overseer. The result is a patch work of highways 
on which a large amount of the people’s money is spent annually 
without any permanent improvement. The roads in one road dis¬ 
trict may be fairly well constructed and maintained because of 
favorable local conditions. The amount of taxable wealth may be 
fairly high in proportion to the road mileage: The topography of 
the country may present few engineering problems: A road material 
may be easily accessible at reasonable prices. In other road dis¬ 
tricts upon the same highway the conditions may be adverse. The 
available amount of taxable wealth may be very small compared 
with the amount of road mileage to be improved. The topographi¬ 
cal conditions may present very serious and expensive engineering 
problems. The road material may be difficult to obtain within a 
reasonable distance or at a reasonable price. It frequently happens 
that the communities which need good roads most are less able to 
secure them than other communities that need them less. Such a 
thing as a continuous good road built by purely local efforts is almost 
an impossibilitjr. It may be said, why do we need a continuous 
good road. Why will not disjointed fragments of roads do just as 
well? If roads are looked upon solely as an accessory to the nearest 
railroad station a few fragments of disjointed sections of roads would 
do just as well as continuous good roads, but if roads are looked 
upon as a means of opening up and developing the country, raising 
land values and improving the social, intellectual and religious life 
of the rural community, then it is necessary that the roads go some¬ 
where and be connected up into a system of county, State and 
national highways. 

Most nations, have approached the road problem wholly from the 
point of military necessity. The great highways of antiquity were 
military roads built to enable the power entrenched in an imperial 
capital to send its legions speedily against distant provinces for the 
purpose of either putting down insurrections or collecting tribute. 
This was the purpose of the great imperial highways of the Romans. 
In modern life, however, roads are not built for pillage and con¬ 
quest but for civilization and trade. 

Every great nation that has successfully built and maintained a 
system of highways had found it necessary to classify its highways 
according to the demands of the traffic. It will be impossible for 
our country to solve the road problem without some sane classifica¬ 
tion founded upon common sense. One of the great defects of our 
system has been to place all rural highways in the same class. If 
one road happens to be improved better than another it was due 
entirely to the happy accident of the local situation or local enter¬ 
prise and not due to any general plan for better means of communi¬ 
cation. Modern scientific study shows that under any condition 


32 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


80 per cent of the traffic will go over 15 per cent of the roads. This 
is true even in the most primitive conditions and where the roads 
have no improvements whatever. It is not only unnecessary but 
it is extremely wasteful to attempt to improve the entire system of 
highways upon the same basis. It is equally wasteful to attempt 
to distribute federal money among the highways upon the acci¬ 
dental circumstances of the way in which they happen to be im¬ 
proved at the present time. My county in Missouri has over 300 
miles of highly improved rock roads because the taxing power is 
ample and local conditions are favorable. More than 100 counties 
in Missouri have not a single mile of rock road and yet the public 
need for permanent roads in those counties from the standpoint of 
the productive energies of the nation is just as great. If federal 
money is distributed wholly upon the basis of the present condition 
of the roads, those counties that happen to be fortunate in having 
rock roads at this time will get the bulk of the money while those 
that are unfortunate and have not been able to secure rock roads 
will get very little if any. I know of no justification of this system 
of distribution of the federal money except the Biblical injunction, 
“Unto him that hath shall be given, and unto him that hath not 
shall be taken away even what he has.” I have always supposed 
however, that this statement in the Bible applied entirely to spiritual 
matters and was not a rule of justice as to public taxation. 

It will be necessary in my judgment to classify all existing high¬ 
ways into at least three classifications. The first is the great cross 
State or interstate highways reaching into every county in the State 
and opening up every section to the benefits of the improved land 
values, freer social intercourse and higher intellectual life. The 
second is the main feeders or great country roads, and third, the 
by-roads, local roads or lands. These various classes of roads should 
be built, improved and maintained with a view to the amount of 
traffic that they can bear and must bear. The first class should be 
of the most permanent and scientific construction. The second class 
could be of a less expensive nature and would need less maintenance. 
The third class could be improved only to the extent that the com¬ 
munity required. The expense of building and maintaining these 
roads should be distributed upon the same basis. The roads of the 
first class should be supported by the taxing power of a large area 
of country including at least the entire State, because the wealth 
gathered in the cities ought to contribute to them. The second 
class of roads should also have a wide taxing power at least co¬ 
extensive with the county and possibly with a group of counties 
or with some State aid. This would leave the small road district 
or local community only the burden of the smaller or purely local 
roads. However much politicians may twist and turn and argue 
about the question we must eventually come to some scientific solu¬ 
tion of the problem. I realize that when we begin to talk about 
real road improvement political difficulties of all kinds are encoun- 


PROCEEDINGS 


33 


tered. It is easy enough to shout of good roads and to convey the 
adroit impression on the minds of every hill farmer that he will 
have the road pass his place; but when we get down to practical 
business we will find that only a very limited percentage can ever 
be improved to a high condition and that these roads must be the 
ones which will serve the greatest number of people. It is very 
easy to defeat the whole plan by appeals to the prejudices of those 
voters who would be led to believe that they will get no direct 
benefit from the roads. It is possible even to inflame them to 
high indignation against the people whom they think will be bene¬ 
fited. This is true even though the total expense for a system of 
roads will not be a cent more than the present expense for a bad 
system of roads. What the people will demand in the next few 
years in this country is good roads and no politics. 

It is a fatal mistake to mix politics with the good road question. 
In the legislation enacted by Congress, it is my judgment that pro¬ 
vision should be made for a practical and scientific classification of 
roads, not on the basis of the present accident of their construction 
but on the basis of their need for future development. It is neces¬ 
sary also that provision be made for the maintenance of roads after 
they are built. It is useless and expensive to build good roads 
unless some provision is made to maintain them and roads ought 
not to be built faster than they can be properly maintained. It 
will be necessary in the third place to provide for a system of State 
Highway Commissions which shall be in direct touch with the Office 
of Good Roads of the Department of Agriculture of the U. S. Gov¬ 
ernment so that the most advanced, scientific and economical methods 
of road engineering, construction and maintenance may be at the 
service of all of the roads of the country, even down to the smallest 
by-road or lane. 

I have proposed legislation in Congress embodying those ideas 
and I am glad to say that these proposals have met with the 
approval of the real friends of good roads all over the country. I 
have no pride of opinion as to the details of the plan nor have I any 
pride of authorship. I am willing that the cause of good roads should 
be advanced by any method and through any channel that will 
be of service, but in my judgment it is time for the politician to 
quit shouting good roads and get down to some practical benefit 
for the people. 

The Chairman: Four years ago we had a good roads congress 
at St. Louis and at that time things did not look as promising as 
they do today and I certainly congratulate this country on the 
movement brought forward in such a short time. If it keeps on at 
the same rate, we certainly will have good roads in this country. 
At that convention there were a lot of men who came down there to 
get information. I suppose that is what a great many of you are here 
for, and when they got up and told us how to build roads that cost 


34 


AMERICAN ROAD CONQRES8 


$35,000 a mile, they did not, some of them, seem very much inter¬ 
ested, they said, “We have about $35,000 to spend in the State to 
say nothing of a mile, and we want to know how to build roads 
without this enormous expenditure.” They got down to $6,000, 
but that did not interest some of them veiy much. There was a 
gentleman present at that meeting who had charge of the expendi¬ 
ture of some $50,000,000 in the State of New York, and was doing 
some great work. He gave us this theory in regard to road main¬ 
tenance; I can remember very well some points he made four years 
ago at that meeting. A road commences to deteriorate the day 
it is opened, and from that day they must commence to repair it. 
No road should be open to the public until they are ready to repair 
it; that was his theory. In the light of later events, that same gentle¬ 
man went to the State of New Hampshire where they perhaps had 
as many dollars as they had millions to expend in the State of New 
York and in a conversation I had with the then Governor of New 
Hampshire, I said, “You have got one of the greatest road makers 
in the country, but what in the world do you suppose he is going 
to do up in your State without any money?” “That man has 
been handling $50,000,000 and it was only a question how fast he 
could spend it without wasting it, and now he is coming up to New 
Hampshire and the Lord only knows whether they are going to give 
him any appropriation next year or not.” And as I had to travel 
over those roads, I was personally interested to see what he would 
do. I did not know what his theory was. I have not seen him 
until today since I bade him goodbye in St. Louis, but I have seen 
his work, and the first thing it seemed to me he did was to repair 
his State roads which were already in existence and were wearing 
out or worn out and he did not seem at all in a hurry in building any 
more roads. What he has accomplished with a small amount of 
money at his command in New Hampshire is something wonderful, 
and I believe that information from him as to how he can build 
such high grade roads with such a small amount of money would be 
more interesting than how you can build a brick or concrete boule¬ 
vard at $35,000 a mile. I refer to Mr. S. Percy Hooker, State 
Superintendent of Highways of New Hampshire, and I take very 
great pleasure in introducing him. 

Mr. Hooker: Mr. Chairman , Ladies and Gentleynen: I could 
not ask a greater compliment than to be credited with the ability 
to build something out of nothing. I have not been able, however, 
to get quite that far. There was one point the Congressman made 
when he said he did not believe there was any man who understood 
the road situation at all that thought there was any possibility of 
maintaining a road without building it properly. Well, he picked 
the one man then, because I do, to a large extent, I think we are 
going too fast. When I go over the entire United States and see 
what’s got to be done to make passable roads, to make roads that 


PROCEEDINGS 


35 


you can go over, I do not believe that we are following the right line 
in endeavoring to build all that mileage as we now talk of construct¬ 
ing roads. I don’t think it is possible. It does not seem to me it is 
possible. I went in to New Hampshire with a small contribution 
and a large road mileage. New Hampshire is largely a tourist State, 
a State where it was necessary not to have short roads from the 
farm to the station, but to have roads so that you could travel 
from the Massachusetts line to the Canadian line and from Ver¬ 
mont across to Maine, and we had hardly any money. With that 
in my mind I turned around, turned a complete somersault. I 
made up my mind that it was not possible for us to talk about 
concrete or brick roads and get anywhere, that our situation was 
not as much an engineer’s proposition as it was a common sense 
proposition, of getting the worth of our money and maintaining 
the roads that we should put in condition. Well, of course, there 
is one thing we had to start with; you have got to start with the 
drainage of the State road. It does not make any difference if I 
am going to put on a brick surface at a cost of $22,000 a mile or 
take the natural sand clay where the surface only comes to $1500 
a mile. I build the road in its foundation, in its drainage exactly 
the same, because that is where my road is going to pieces. With 
that value, that thought in mind, we constructed, the last three years, 
the roads in the State of New Hampshire. We find that they are 
pretty generally satisfactory to the people that go over them. They 
say, “You have good roads.” My average cost is only about a 
quarter of what it is in the other States, and as I say, my drainage 
is just as good. My theory is that if you will attend to the drain¬ 
age, if you will attend to your grades on your roads, it don’t make 
such an awful lot of difference what you put on for your surfacing. 
I don’t see many material men here; they are all in the other part, 
they will all deny this proposition and say how foolish it is, but when 
we can build a road at a cost of $150 to $200 a mile, we keep that road 
through the entire season so it is good enough to drive over, so 
nobody kicks about the condition of your road, so it will never mire 
a team or stop an automobile. I think we have a different idea from 
the ordinary idea, and an idea that a good many of you fellows have 
to follow out. Now this Road Congress I assume is not for this 
purpose. I don’t know why I was asked to talk today. I have 
a technical paper on surfacing roads, but I was just asked to get 
up here and fill the gap because somebody had gone and they knew 
I was a crank and an enthusiast and would be glad to tell you what 
I think about the way you have to build roads. Before you can 
run you have to walk, and when I come down from Washington 
over the railroad and see the road you now have through this entire 
section of the country, I don’t believe you want brick roads or con¬ 
crete roads as much as you want more intelligent work in taking 
care of the drainage and building up the preliminary of your present 
roads. We are liable to go too far. They come down out of their 


36 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


pockets in good shape now, in my State, but I have only half a 
million to spend in half a year; I have between 1100 and 1200 miles 
of road to keep in condition so you can drive over it at any period 
of the year without any inconvenience or trouble, and people pat 
me on the back and say, “How well you are doing.” I can take 
that money and build 20 miles of brick road, but how far would 
that go? You have got to divide it equitably. It is well enough 
to say, as the Congressman did, we will take them in order, but you 
are not going to do it as long as the people in Washington are pay¬ 
ing for it. You have got to divide those roads up and the money 
will be spread out so thin with that class of roads that a lot of you 
won’t see it, it won’t get to your county. Now, talking not as a 
road commissioner but as a Yankee, I believe we have got to spread 
that money so that the fellows living in the country will see some¬ 
thing you are doing and be willing to stand back of you. Perhaps 
you can point out a road and say, “That is not as good as a con¬ 
crete or brick road, but you can go clear across the county on it.” 
When a man is starting across the county, if he can go through that 
county on a road that you can guarantee to him is properly drained, 
it is pretty good to drive over and he can go clear across the county 
on it, he will like it a good deal better than to go one-eighth of a 
mile in this direction at $25,000 a mile, and you won’t get many 
advocates of the building of that sort of a road until you have edu¬ 
cated them up to it. My theory is that my road shall be just as 
good so that the State or county or locality can at any time put 
on that the surfacing they are able to pay for. You will have the 
essentials and from that you will educate whatever locality it is, 
much easier to the proposition of putting on that other surfacing. 
You will all of you get proud and chesty some day and say, “They 
have got it over in that other county and we will put on the best 
surfacing.” You will be a great deal more apt to do it if you will 
get a pretty good road there than if you started very many of the 
roads I have seen coming down in the country. A man way up 
in New Hampshire has no business to come down in Georgia and tell 
you what you can do here. A road proposition is just as much a spe¬ 
cial feature as a man’s suit of clothes is, you have got to cut the road 
to fit the case, but I am pleading for us meek and lowly ones that 
cannot go in for the best work and can’t build the expensive roads, 
and yet I want you to feel that you have a future if you will start, 
if you will take the essentials of this road and build it up, show 
that you have started and people will back it up to a far greater 
extent than you dream of now. I don’t know why I am here today, 

I have another paper to take up and had no idea of speaking in any 
way except to plead for the meek and the lowly—there’s a lot of us 
in the country. Then the Congressman was talking about his 
Ford car; I go about 40,000 miles a year in a Ford car. They told 
me I would have Bright’s disease if I rode in that car, but I have 
done pretty well so far and don’t see that I have gotten more humps 


PROCEEDINGS 


37 


in my back than I would have if I had ridden in a Pierce-Arrow 
or a Packard. There are lots of us; there are some plutocrats but 
they are the favored ones and the rest of us have got to go as we 
can and I contend it is much easier for me to go around in a Ford car 
than on my feet; I am sure I would have corns if I had tried to cover 
30,000 or 40,000 miles on my feet; and I think in most instances you 
will find people generally, when you begin the road movement, 
if I say I guess it will cost us $12,000 or $15,000 a mile you will find 
lots of people that will have cold feet, but if I show them a road that 
they can get over, show them a road on which a man can carry as 
big a bale of cotton or as many bushels of wheat as on the other road 
and tell them it is not going to cost you any more a year to do it, 
you will interest them quicker and I believe that in a way we are 
on the wrong end of the game, we ought to take the fellow where 
you have not any roads and show him the best you can do for a small 
sum of money rather than show him the best you can do for a big 
sum of money. I have just seen a distinguished advocate of brick 
roads here and I wish he had been in here a minute earlier so I could 
show him how it figured out. It would cost $700 or $800 a mile 
interest charges. I think I happened to be one of the first highway 
commissioners that put in a brick road as a highway proposition, 
but I don’t see how that is going to help a man out in Oklahoma at 
present. I think you have got to tell him, “Improve your road 
to the best of your ability with the money you have and you will 
find a gain in that whether you have the best road or not.” I thank 
you gentlemen. 

The Chairman: Gentlemen, I have heard from the North and 
a section of the country where the State finds it necessary to build 
roads at a low price. The crying need of this country today is 
how to build roads at a low price. The next gentleman I will call 
upon is from the South. He has made this road problem a study. 
I have the pleasure of introducing to you Dr. Joseph Hyde Pratt, 
State Geologist of North Carolina. 

Dr. Pratt: This afternoon I feel a little bit like the man who 
goes to a banquet and just as he is sitting down at the table the 
toastmaster whispers to him, “I am going to call on you later for a 
toast.” When I have been in that predicament it has very often 
nearly ruined my appetite for the good things on the table. I am 
in somewhat the same position this afternoon. When I came onto 
the platform, Mr. Diehl stated that I would be called upon this 
afternoon to take part in the discussion of this question of national 
aid, and I have had to busy myself while these others were talking 
to make up my mind what I was going to say, instead of enjoying 
to the fullest extent the splendid things said thus far in regard to 
national aid and the general question of road work. I was extremely 
interested in what Mr. Hooker said, although it did not deal di- 


38 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


rectly with the question of Federal aid, yet it does have a close bear¬ 
ing upon my idea of Federal or national aid. I am very much 
in favor of national aid, and I do not believe there are very many 
men in Congress or out of Congress that are not in favor of some form 
of Federal aid in the construction of roads throughout this country. 
I have forgotten how many bills have been introduced into Con¬ 
gress m regard to this question of Federal aid. Thus far none of 
them have been successful in passing both branches of Congress. 
Some of them have passed one branch and been tabled or defeated 
in the other, and vice versa. It does indicate that the question of 
Federal aid is gaining strength day by day, and to my mind it is 
simply a question of a short time when some Federal aid bill will 
be passed by Congress. Now I suppose in the discussion it is ex¬ 
pected that the speaker will give to a certain extent his ideas as 
to what he believes is a practical form of Federal or national aid. 
I wish first to discuss a few ideas that Mr. Hooker brought out 
that especially appealed to me. First, that the surfacing material 
of a road shall be dependent upon the traffic that goes over that 
road. Now you may need in New York State, in certain sections 
and similarly in Ohio and other States, a concrete or vitrified brick 
road that costs anywhere from $12,000 to $15,000 or even $18,000 
per mile, but do we need it in my State (North Carolina) where 
the traffic is probably one-tenth or one-twentieth of what it is in 
those States I have mentioned where they do need an extremely 
hard surfaced road? 

Would it not be much better to put in a surface that is satis¬ 
factory to the traffic that is now going over the road and what 
may be expected in the next five years, so that instead of the road 
costing $12,000 to $18,000 a mile, it can be put in at a cost of $1500 
to $2500 a mile, and yet give perfect satisfaction as regards the 
traffic that goes over it, 'provided that the original road bed has 
been so located and drained, that there will never be any question 
after the highway has been built of re-locating it? They put on 
any surfacing material you may wish, if your traffic is such that 
you can put a sand-clay or gravel surface or a top soil surface on 
at a cost running anywhere in the various counties of North Caro¬ 
lina from $500 to $2500 a mile and satisfy the traffic, is not that 
the best surface to use? There is no pavement you can put down 
today, I don’t care what it is, that doesn’t have to be maintained. 
It is necessary, right from the minute the pavement is built or the 
surfacing material put down, to provide a maintenance fund with 
which to constantly repair the surface of the road. For years with 
us the sand clay, gravel or top soil surface is going to be perfectly 
satisfactory as regards the traffic that goes over the road. As 
the traffic increases it means one thing—that the county is be¬ 
coming more thickly populated, has greater wealth, and that the 
road revenue or the amount that will be raised by taxes for road 
purposes is constantly increasing. As the traffic increases and 


PROCEEDINGS 


39 


finally becomes so great that the present surfacing material is not 
satisfactory, then you are financially ready and able to put in a 
harder surfacing material; you have not lost anything; and yet you 
have had the use of the cheaper surfacing material over a large 
mileage for a series of years. We have a splendid foundation for 
any kind of surfacing material, the grading and draining is all fin¬ 
ished, and we simply come back and put down the surface the traffic 
demands. If it is virtified brick, you have one of the very best 
foundations on which to put your vitrified brick pavement,, and 
it is the same way if we decide to put in some form of bituminous 
macadam. 

We come now to the question of national aid. I believe in 
national aid; I believe it is a function of the Federal Govern¬ 
ment to assist us in developing our counties and States. I believe 
that public roads are public necessities and that it is as much 
the function of the Federal Government to assist us as it is for 
the States to assist the counties and townships. I do not believe 
it is feasible in framing such a bill to say that the Federal Govern¬ 
ment shall build the same type of road in all parts of the United 
States, that it shall build a vitrified brick or cement road and that 
such roads shall be built in every State. North Carolina had 
much rather, if there is going to be a certain amount of money 
appropriated with which to build roads in North Carolina, that 
they locate the road, properly grade it and drain it and then surface 
it with such materials as will be satisfactory to the traffic that is 
going over that road in North Carolina. A road does not need the 
same surfacing in North Carolina as in New York State where you 
have 1000, 1500 or perhaps 2000 automobiles over each mile of road 
per day, where in North Carolina we have 100 to 200 automobiles 
going over each mile of road per day. We get more mileage and 
get just as satisfactory a road. I don’t believe, in connection 
with Federal appropriations for road work, that they should be used 
in any way in the question of maintenance of roads built by the 
State. I believe they should be used in building the main high¬ 
ways, and I further believe that the Federal Government should 
build these roads and that the States should have nothing to do 
in regard to their construction; but if the government builds so 
many miles of road in a State, it should be obligatory on the State 
to build a certain number of State roads, or roads leading into 
the highway that the government itself shall build; on the same 
plan that if you build a State road in most States, it is obligatory 
on the counties that they build so many miles of county roads 
leading in to the main State roads. Now the question has been 
raised that in any Federal appropriation for road construction, 
it would always be apportioned or tried to be apportioned the 
same as other appropriations so that each Congressman would 
be able to get a little for his Congressional District. If you could 
see road money spent, Federal, State, or county, in the way I think 


40 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


it ought to be spent, it would create and build up a citizenship 
of the most unselfish people, because I believe that money for road 
work should be spent in such a way as to insure the road being built 
and located where it will serve the best interests of the county, 
State or nation according as it is a county, State or national highway. 
I want to illustrate that. I have been advocating in North Carolina 
State aid. As yet we have not got what we want; but we have got 
certain State convicts at work on the roads. The first road the 
State agreed to build was across a portion of Henderson County in 
Western North Carolina. The extreme northeastern portion of this 
county is a jog between two other counties, Buncombe and Ruther¬ 
ford, which wished to be connected by a good road. As far as Hen¬ 
derson County was concerned, the building of this road across the 
jog of the county would be of little or no actual value to the county 
itself. The township containing this part of the county could not 
afford to build the road. There was seven miles across Henderson 
County that was needed to be built to complete a State road from 
Charlotte to Asheville. I advocated the State’s building this 
seven-mile link, arguing that the county could not afford to build 
it; that it was a road that the State needs and that the State can’t 
build a mile of road anywhere in North Carolina on a through 
highway that is not a great benefit to the State as a whole. You 
cannot build a road anywhere in the United States that is not of 
some benefit to the United States as a whole. The public roads be¬ 
long to the people of a State. They belong to the people of the 
United States; every single man, woman and child has a right to go 
on any mile of public road that may exist in this country, and if we 
can ever make up our minds that we will be willing to put into the 
hands of the Commission, that the Federal Government undoubtedly 
will appoint, and let them decide where the Federal money shall 
be spent, I, for one, will be perfectly satisfied that in the end North 
Carolina will get her part of whatever Federal appropriation may 
be made; she may not get it this year or next year, but you will 
in the end see North Carolina getting her proportional part of any 
Federal appropriation that may be made for Federal roads. In 
Orange County we carried a bond issue of $250,000 against great 
opposition, the Road Commission was appointed and the question of 
location of the roads was left to this Commission. A man in the 
northern part of the county did his best to defeat the bond issue. 
It happened that one of the new roads was built right by his farm 
and he now says: “If there is any talk of an additional bond issue 
or the county wants to raise any more money to build roads in 
Orange County, I will go out and work my best to carry that bond 
issue; a road has gone by my house and I realize what good roads 
mean and want to see the rest of the people get the benefit of them.” 
If we put the question of where the money shall be spent into the 
hands of a competent Commission, I believe we can leave it to them 
and in the end get the best results and we won’t have a little piece of 


PROCEEDINGS 


41 


good road here and another piece there and another there and perhaps 
none of any particular importance as interstate or intercounty roads, 
and all brought about because some Congressman wanted to bring 
so much money into his district. I do not believe in Federal appro¬ 
priations for maintenance of post roads or appropriating so much 
for each mile of macadam or sand clay or dirt road. I believe in 
spending Federal money in the construction of roads. In State or 
county bond issues, I believe that just as much of that money should 
be spent in connection with the grading and draining of the roads and 
just as small a percentage as possible in the surfacing of those roads. 
The grading or location is what you might call the permanent part 
of the road, and I want to see the Federal money spent on a perma¬ 
nent road, not on patch work to repair a mudhole here or cut down a 
grade there, but I want to see permanent, main highways located and 
built through this country. Thank you. 

The Chairman: It gives me great pleasure to introduce to you 
a gentleman who, for over 20 years, made an interesting study of 
this good roads movement, Mr. Clarence Kenyon, President of the 
Indiana Good Roads Association. 

Mr. Kenyon: Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen: I think that you 
are all interested in this question of national aid. 1 congratulate 
you on having listened to not only an eloquent but a convincing 
argument in favor of national aid by Mr. Borland of Missouri here. 
It seemed to me that that argument would convince anyone of the 
necessity and the usefulness of Federal aid in the construction of 
main, interstate highways. I want to talk a few minutes about the 
practical side of this proposition. Just to sit here and listen, and 
generally think about good roads don’t produce results. What 
has been done? What is going to be done, and what are you going 
to do to help the cause? It’s the important thing. Just to listen 
to an argument, or read a story in a paper, may give you a nice 
mental reaction, as President Wilson says, but it don’t cause you to 
do anything, it does not make such a conviction in your mind that 
you get out and hustle for it. I had a queer experience a short 
time ago. I was going by auto from Chicago to Indianapolis, where 
I live. A highway superintendent stopped me and said, “I^want 
you to be sure, in going down, to note a certain bit of road.” So 
when I came to that place I was looking at the road which was pretty 
well furrowed, when I saw a farmer, that classed himself as a hay¬ 
seed, and thought he was pretty smart, as I found out afterwards, 
call his boy. I was going very slow and stopped. The little fellow 
ran out behind the automobile to catch the number and where it 
was from. Well I saw this operation, although I was part of the 
time looking at the road. I went in to see him and said, “Why did 
you send that boy out to catch the number on my machine? Have 
I been violating the law?” He said, “No; come in. How would 


42 


AMEBICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


you folks like to have a glass of milk? Johnnie, go and get a pitcher 
of milk and take it out and give the ladies a glass of milk. I will 
tell you why that was. Look at that road. I was taxed, and am 
being taxed for 10 years to come for building that road and it has 
been down only a little over two years, and look at it.” “Well,” 
I said, “what about it?” “Well,” he said, “it is nearly worn 
out already.” I says “Well, how can I help it?” He said, “I have 
been sitting here on my porch day after day counting and looking 
at the vehicles that go by,” and he brought out a little pad of paper 
where he had been keeping tab on traffic on that road. He says, 
“Here was yesterday, there were 105 automobiles passed, and not 
one single one of that 105 had an Indiana mark on it; they were 
all Illinois, Ohio, New York, or some other State.” And he said, 
“I sent my boy out today, because I could not catch what was 
on your car, to see where you are from and where you live.” I said, 
“Mine is Indiana and I live in Indianapolis.” “But you don’t 
live in my township and my county, you don’t pay any part of the 
cost, and yet you are wearing out the road and tearing it up. I 
want to know about it.” I said, “What is your theory?” “Well,” 
he said, “I don’t know of any way of taxing the people over in 
Illinois and New York, that go through here to Chicago, Cleve¬ 
land, South Bend, and other places, in troops unless we have the 
Federal Government pay part of the cost of building these roads 
that they are wearing out.” I said, “I agree with you that far.” 
And he said, “I don’t see any reason why you people down in In¬ 
dianapolis should not help pay, if you come up here and use this 
road, too. We are willing to pay our share of the cost, but you are 
asking us now, under the State law, to pay the whole cost, and 
spread it over ten years, and this road has only been down two years 
and is nearly worn out now.” I said, “That is a splendid argument 
for Federal and State aid, and I agree with you about it, but what 
have you done outside of keeping a tab on the traffic and cussing 
me, and the other fellows, and things generally, because your road 
is being worn out? Have you said anything to your Congressman 
about it? Have you gone to him before election and said, T want 
to know what your position on this national aid question is?’ ” 
“Well, no I had not thought of that.” I said, “that’s the reason 
why Federal aid is not any further along than it is, because you are 
talking about it, and swearing about it around at the corner grocery, 
or here on your own porch or out at road conventions, where you get 
with a few road enthusiasts that agree about it, and you don’t go after 
the fellow that has the say so about it.” He said, “Right you are; 
the first time I see my Congressman I will say a few things to him, 
by gum.” That’s what is the matter with us. We get a sort of 
academic interest in this thing, but we have such a lot of interests 
of our own that we won’t consecrate a little bit of time to push the 
cause in a place where it is effective, because it is some trouble, and 
we can’t get away from our business, and it is a little out of the 


PROCEEDINGS 


43 


way, and we don’t like to write letters, etc. The Congressman 
might throw them in the waste basket, and so forth and so on. 
We are not going to get results until the people get an understand¬ 
ing of the question and think it so strongly, that they will go after 
the man who has got the say so about it. This farmer said to me—• 
“ What made you infavor of the government helping to pay for roads?” 
“Well,” I said, “the government builds the Panama Canal costing 
$400,000,000, many thousands of miles away from here and pays 
for it out of public funds. It is just a transportation system, and 
Uncle Sam goes down to Porto Rico and builds miles and miles 
of roads, and pays for them out of the general treasury and we don’t 
kick at all, we don’t shake our fists at the Congressman about that. 
Then he goes up to Alaska and builds not only miles and miles of 
highways, but in this last Congress, this Democratic Congress, 
led by the Democratic President—they have appropriated $35,- 
000,000 for building a railroad, up there, a long way from us, and who 
is paying for it? We are. You are. You don’t kick about it. 
Congress goes on and does it, and yet, the same amount of money 
that went to build the Panama Canal, invested in roads in this 
country, would be of more material benefit to the home people of 
this country than three Panama Canals. Yet you don’t say a 
word about it. Again we go over to the Philippines and say, “Do 
you needs roads over here?” “Yes.” “Here is the money, we 
will pay for them.” We go out to Hawaii; oh, yes the Federal 
Government will pay for the roads, but if they need roads in Georgia 
and Indiana and Ohio and Missouri, oh, no, let the people build 
their own roads. There is your proposition, and yet you don’t 
put it right in your fist, and go and shake it under the nose of your 
Congressman and say, “I want you to understand if you are not 
in favor of a little Federal aid for our highways, I am not in favor 
of you.” When the voters get to doing that, Congress will do some¬ 
thing, and then you will get somewhere and not till then. Now, 
just a word more; Congress has heard, and is trying to do some¬ 
thing, but politics must be in it. Along comes one man and intro¬ 
duces a bill in Congress for a $25,000,000 appropriation and he 
says, “Here, for every mile of post road in your county, that is an 
earth road over which the mail is carried, we will pay $10 a mile, 
and pay it to the county or to the township—just hand it out to 
you, and we will not ask any questions about how it is spent, we 
will just hand it out. If it is a gravel road, we will give you $15 
a mile, and if it is a macadam road, $20 or $25 a mile and this money 
will go into every Congressional District, every place will get part 
of it. See what we are doing for the people. We are not going to 
ask you how it is spent, but you will get it.” Now that was one plan, 
and the House passed that bill by an overwhelming majority. The 
money was to be spent under no supervision, in no particular place, 
but just everywhere. Well, when people commenced to think 
about it a little bit they said, “That’s just a pork barrel measure; 


44 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


when you spread $25,000,000 over 1,200,000 miles of road, what is 
it going to do? Why, it is such a small amount that it will do no 
good, and by the time you give it into the hands of 150,000 officials 
to expend, what would become of it and who is going to make a re¬ 
port about it?” And so a lot of pretty sensible men, as it seemed 
to me, opposed the bill, and when it got over to the Senate, they 
had heard from the country, and said no! Now, that is one plan; 
bear that in mind. The Chairman of the House Committee on 
Roads is obsessed with the idea that that is the way to do it, that 
that is going to solve the problem. Come to the next plan. “If 
the government expends say $25,000,000 and it is apportioned on 
some fair basis among the States, why the States must expend an 
equal amount, and the States can raise the money as they choose, 
by bond issue or otherwise, and that fund will be spent under the 
direction of a State Highway Department.” Well, here’s a lot of 
States that have no Highway Department, and they would not get 
any of the fund; again there are 19 States that have no power, under 
their constitution, to issue bonds for that purpose and they would 
not participate in it. Well, I don’t know, that’s a pretty tough 
proposition, where are we at on it? So there was another difficulty, 
that was urged as a reason why nothing should be done, instead of 
putting it up to them, and saying “then for God’s sake to find a 
way to do it,” the plan as proposed was merely argued down or 
in abeyance. There is still another plan, that is proposed, namely: 
that the nation should appropriate a certain amount of money 
for roads and then have a National Roads Commission and put 
the money into the hands of that Commission to build, as Dr. Pratt 
and some others of these gentlemen said, a system of national high¬ 
ways, not all at once, but build them gradually as they are needed, 
where the traffic goes and where the necessities of the nation require. 
Is not that practical? If that is not practical, and the other is 
not and the township plan of sending it out to our rural routes is 
not, is it not their business as legislators to solve that problem 
the same as they solved the money question? The way to resume, 
is to resume. Are they doing anything about really solving it? 
Not a thing. The good roads people have to go down to Wash¬ 
ington every session and urge them to do something. Why? Be¬ 
cause the people don’t go up to their noses with their fists and say, 
“If you don’t take a little more interest in this road question that 
affects every man, woman and child in this country, that affects the 
cost of their living, their social relations, and all that will make 
this nation better and greater, we are going to do something to 
you,” and then you can bet there will be some response on this road 
question, and it won’t be until then. Some say too, “If we build 
national roads, they will be nothing but roads for joy riders and 
automobiles.” I will tell you a little experience I had about that. 
I went up into Marshall County, one of the northern counties of our 
State, at the request of someone to make a good roads speech, it was 
in the evening and in a little town between 500 and 1000 inhabit- 


PROCEEDINGS 


45 


ants and I was quite surprised to find 100 or so people there, and I 
referred to the fact that some people, especially farmers, have a 
sort of prejudice against automobiles, and I made such argument 
as I could, that that prejudice ought not to be because it did not 
make any difference if an automobile did use the road, it did not 
prevent the farmers from using it, it was just like a railroad, because 
the King goes over it, or the President goes over it, or someone with 
a special train goes over it filled with champagne, well dressed 
ladies, and a lot of jolly fellows, that don’t keep the farmer’s corn 
and cotton and potatoes and other things from going over that 
same road. At any rate, when I got through, there was a farmer 
with three or four of his neighbors came up and said, “I wanted 
to talk with you a little about that speech you just made. Your 
remark about the prejudice that the farmers had against the auto¬ 
mobile. Now I will admit we used to have some considerable preju¬ 
dice against the automobile, but if you would go around a little bit 
now, you’d find that that is dying out pretty fast.” He continued, 
“I live out in the country, 8 miles from here and these are my neigh¬ 
bors; and I have got a cheap car, and when we heard you were going 
to make a speech about roads, we thought we would come in and 
hear you, even though it was cold and the roads were muddy, but 
let me tell you one thing, Mister, if we had had to drive a team 
in here to-night, 8 miles and back, to hear you, if you had been 
the President we would not have come. Farmers have found out 
the convenience of automobiles just as well as you city fellows and 
you might just as well get next to that idea, too.” I was out in Kan¬ 
sas a short time ago, in Barton County, I said, “How about the 
automobile prejudice out here?” A fellow says, “Go on; there are 
18,000 automobiles here.” I said, “What?” He said, “Yes, there 
are automobiles enough to carry every man, woman and child out 
of this county in one day. All you need to do is to go to the county 
fair, and you will see whether or not the farmers have automobiles.” 
That’s the idea. Remember that Federal aid can only be obtained, 
and your State aid obtained by getting next to the legislators, and 
going after them. 

The Chairman : Gentlemen, Dr. Pratt has some announcements 
to make. 

Dr. Pratt: Mr. Winn has asked me to call your attention to the 
reception by the Governor at the State Capitol from eight to ten- 
thirty this evening, and also that delegates desiring to take the trip 
over the Fulton County roads will please register at the Information 
Bureau. The Committee has prepared a little folder which gives a 
description of the itinerary and various points of interest on the 
route. 

The Chairman: Gentlemen, the meeting will stand adjourned 
until ten o’clock tomorrow morning. 


46 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


November 10, 10 a.m. 

President Fletcher in the chair 

The Chairman: I want to call attention again to the Women’s 
Conference at the Hotel Ansley, at ten o’clock this morning and 
two this afternoon. All ladies are invited to attend. I also want 
to call attention to the fact that the annual meeting of the High¬ 
way Association will be held on Thursday at 8 p.m. in this room, 
instead of Friday as announced in the program. 

I have the pleasure of announcing the appointment of the follow¬ 
ing Committee on Resolutions, which will meet at the call of the 
Chairman. 

Committee on Resolutions 

Chairman, W. Tom Winn, Commissioner of Fulton County, 
Georgia. 

William R. Roy, State Highway Commissioner of Washington. 

George C. Diehl, Chairman, Good Roads Board, American Auto¬ 
mobile Association. 

Charles J. Bennett, State Highway Commissioner of Connecticut. 

H. J. Kuelling, County Engineer of Milwaukee County, Wis. 

W. D. Sohier, Chairman, Massachusetts State Highway Commis¬ 
sion. 

Henry W. Durham, Chief Engineer of Highways, Manhattan, 
N. Y. 

Frank F. Rogers, State Highway Commissioner of Michigan. 

C. A. Kenyon, Indianapolis, Ind. 

W. S. Gearhart, State Highway Engineer of Kansas. 

E. R. Morgan, State Road Engineer of Utah. 

James R. Marker, State Highway Commissioner of Ohio. 

Major Amos A. Fries, Corps of Engineers U. S. Army. 

J. W. Hunter, Deputy Highway Commissioner of Pennsylvania. 

Prof. E. J. McCaustland, Dean of Engineering, University of 
Missouri. 

The first matter on the program this morning will be a report 
by Mr. A. N. Johnson of the Bureau of Municipal Research, New 
York City. 

Mr. Johnson: Mr. President , Ladies and Gentlemen: The 
Chairman of this Committee, Mr. Wadhams, is unable to be here, 
so I have been asked to present the report of your Committee on 
State Legislation. 

Your committee on “State Legislation” begs to submit the follow¬ 
ing report of its work: 

It was first necessary that a compilation of all the State road 
laws should be made. This was seen to be so large a task that 
unless it was possible to get some assistance the committee could 


PROCEEDINGS 


47 


not undertake it. The matter was therefore taken up with Mr. 
W. L. Page, Director of the U. S. Office of Public Roads, and the 
purpose of the work explained to him. He advised the committee 
that he would have his office undertake the work of compilation, 
which has been done and is now practically complete. The mag¬ 
nitude of this task can be somewhat appreciated when it is realized 
that it comprised something over 3,500,000 words. 

The laws have been indexed for each State and cross-indexed 
by subject for all the States combined. But the work so far done 
will form merely a basis for the real purpose of the work of your 
committee, which is to formulate a plan upon which the various 
States would be able to revise their road laws so that there may 
be a proper foundation for highway work throughout the country. 

It is evident that much work will be necessary before such a 
program can be definitely offered. A chart should be made of the 
present road laws, by which it would be possible to visualize present 
conditions. With such a chart at hand, there would then be pre¬ 
pared an outline of the fundamental principles that the road legis¬ 
lation in every State should include. 

When such a program has been formulated, it is suggested that 
the State Legislatures be advised of the committee’s work, and that 
provision should be made whereby it would be possible for the com¬ 
mittee to come in direct contact with the legislatures of those States 
that might request such assistance. Inasmuch as your present 
committee was appointed by the Third American Road Congress, 
and as the work is so far from complete, it is suggested that there 
should be constituted in the place of the present committee, a com¬ 
mittee of the American Highway Association to carry on the work 
as here outlined; and it is further suggested that the American 
Highway Association provide financial aid that would be necessary for 
the work. Your committee therefore offers the following resolutions: 

Whereas: On account of the continuous characte of the work 
necessary to be done in connection with the compilation and revision 
of road laws, and 

Whereas: The American Road Congress is not a continuing 
body: Therefore BE IT RESOLVED: 

First: That the report of the committee on legislation be adopted 
and the committee discharged; 

Second: That the American Highway Association be requested 
to appoint a standing committee on legislation to continue the work 
of this committee; 

Third: That the American Road Congress expresses its appre¬ 
ciation of the splendid cooperation and value of the assistance ren¬ 
dered by the U. S. Office of Public Roads which has made the work 
of your committee possible. 

Respectfully submitted, 

A. N. Johnson, 
Acting Chairman. 


48 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


On motion the report of the Committee was adopted, and its 
recommendations concurred in. 

Mr. Johnson: The committee would further suggest that the 
chair call upon various members here present to present such views 
as they have in mind as to what should be embodied in fundamental 
road legislation. 

The Chairman: I will first call upon Mr. Henry G. Shirley, of 
Maryland. 

Mr. Shirley: This subject is one of the most important before 
the Congress, in my judgment, and one that should be given close 
consideration. Your committee has gotten together extracts from all 
the laws of the different States and if you would put them together, 
you would have a crazy quilt—they are so different that no one could 
possibly get up a law that embodies the different phases of all the 
laws of the different States. I believe it is an impossibility to draw 
a standard law that will take into consideration all the different 
conditions that are to be met in each State, but there are cardinal 
principles in drawing a law which, in my judgment, should be fol¬ 
lowed in every State in the Union. I think, first, there should be 
in each State a State Highway Department, a head that can look 
after the State roads. Then there should be under the same head a 
State Aid Department; you can govern that as you see fit; then the 
county laws and the township laws. Now in getting these all com¬ 
piled, there are certain conditions in each State that will have to be 
met. Those conditions are restricted to that State, but there are 
general principles that can be brougnt out and put into a law that 
can be applied to every State in the Union, and to every highway 
department. Mr. Chairman, I think that your committee should be 
continued and should give every assistance possible to the different 
legislatures and State highway departments which are trying to im¬ 
prove the many laws they have now. There has been brought be¬ 
fore the Congress many instances where the laws of a number of States 
are absolutely inadequate—they do not cover the conditions at all, 
and will not meet the requirements on account of not being flexible. 
In drawing a law, I would like to impress upon the members of the 
committee, and the different legislatures, that the law be general 
in its terms. There is always a tendency in legislation to restrict 
or to practically say how to build a road. “The road shall be built 
so and so, using sand-clay or macadam. ,, That, in my judgment, is 
absolutely wrong. The law should be made general and leave it 
to the highway departments to use their discretion. It has become 
my duty to have to build a road that had been attempted to be 
built by the legislature absolutely. They said, “You shall use so 
many oyster shells and put on so much gravel and put it on so thick,” 
and when I got through I did not have a road at all—there was 


PROCEEDINGS 


49 


nothing there. The law that should be drawn up, in my judgment, 
should be made broad, giving to the State or county commissioner 
or highway commissioner broad power. Without proper power you 
cannot do good work; with proper power you can. If it is badly 
handled, it is not the fault of the law but of the man who carries 
out the law, and I think it is very necessary that in drawing a law 
this very important phase of all the highway legislation should be 
closely studied so as to draw a law that is flexible and broad and gives 
each department the proper authority. 

The Chairman: I will next call upon Mr. S. E. Bradt, Secretary 
of the Illinois State Highway Department. 

Mr. Bradt: This is rather a short notice to cover a subject of this 
kind. I concur in what the gentleman who has just spoken has said 
as to the organization of highway departments in the several States. 

The first thing for a State to determine is whether the commission 
shall consist of one member or more. The advantage of having 
the authority centered in one man will very often expedite the work. 
But in States where a large amount of work is being done and in 
consequence a large amount of money is being expended, a com¬ 
mission consisting of three members will often get better results 
and give better satisfaction to the public. Also, with a commis¬ 
sion of three members there is the opportunity of making their term 
of office expire in different years so as to avoid the entire change of 
officials with a change in administration. 

Probably the most important factor in connection with a State 
highway department is the chief State engineer. Practically every 
decision which he is called upon to make affects in some degree the 
efficiency in durability of the work. He should be chosen by the 
commission and should be selected as much upon his record for accom¬ 
plishment as upon his technical knowledge. His term of office should 
be during good behavior. 

The further organization of the department will naturally depend 
upon the scope of the law under which the department is working. 
In a State doing a large amount of work there should be a bureau of 
roads in charge of a road engineer, a bureau of bridges in charge of 
a bridge engineer, a laboratory bureau, an accounting bureau and a 
bureau of statistics. If the work is of sufficient magnitude, the 
State should be divided into a number of districts with an engineer 
in charge of each. 

The authority given to the State highway department should 
at least cover all expenditures, both for construction and maintenance, 
upon the main roads. And if the State should see fit to give to 
this department the control of all road and bridge moneys expended 
in the State, it will add greatly to the efficiency and economy of 
the entire road work of the State. The law under which the de¬ 
partment is working should provide the necessary funds with which 


50 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


to carry on the work either through State or county appropriations, 
or both. 

It will be greatly to the advantage of the State also if the dif¬ 
ferent counties or parishes shall be authorized to issue bonds upon 
a vote of the people; thus permitting any particular county or parish 
where the sentiment is favorable to proceed with the construction of 
roads and bridges as rapidly as the people of the locality shall de¬ 
mand. I consider there is no danger in going too rapidly provided 
the people are required to vote upon the propostion, and provided 
further that the bonds for the road improvement shall be issued 
so as to mature serially and all within the life of the improvement. 

The Chairman: I will next call on Mr. Charles J. Bennett, of 
Connecticut. 

Mr. Bennett: This is a surprise. In connection with uni¬ 
form legislation for highway departments, I think there are cer¬ 
tain broad, general principles, that can be laid down. I agree 
with the previous gentleman that these principles are few and 
are of great importance. The establishment of a highway de¬ 
partment, the establishment of town aid and of aid on all roads 
in the State, is a very good idea. The establishment of a finan¬ 
cial principle which will indicate to the people of the State how 
much is expected from year to year for highway purposes—all 
these things can be put in a law, but beyond that one cannot go. 
In almost every case the administration of the highway depart¬ 
ment is a purely local problem, one that can be solved only by the 
locality to which it must be applied, so that the law to be formed by 
a committee on standard legislation must of necessity contain only 
these cardinal principles and beyond that each State should draw 
its own conclusions. The main fault that I have to find with all 
highway laws is this, that they are altogether too long, they con¬ 
tain altogether too much that is not pertinent to the question at 
hand, and my plea for a uniform State highway law or for any high¬ 
way law is to give us one that is brief and clear and in simple Eng¬ 
lish without a great many “Whereas’s” and “ Aforesaid’s” and a 
whole lot of legal verbiage. If the laws of the States are drawn so 
that the ordinary man can read and understand them and they mean 
what they say, we will have taken a great step forward. Most of 
the States have laws which no one can understand. I know that is 
true in our particular case and it is true in almost every law with 
which I have had any connection or of which I have made any study, 
so whoever draws the standard law, for goodness sake make it clear 
so that we can understand it. 

The Chairman: Is there anybody else present who would like 
to be heard on this subject? If not, I will yield the chair at this 
point to Mr. J. P. Wilson, member of the State highway commission 


PROCEEDINGS 


51 


of Illinois, who will take charge of the meeting during the remainder 
of the session. Mr. Wilson. 

Mr. Wilson takes the chair. 

The Chairman: Ladies and Gentlemen: Mr. W. G. Edens, who 
is President of the Highway Improvement Association of Illinois, 
had been selected to preside at this meeting. In the absence of 
Mr. Edens they have forced me into harness with the distinct under¬ 
standing that I would not make a speech. It appears that Mr 
Buck and Mr. Stevens are not present, but their papers will be 
read and the discussion of Colonel Stevens’ paper opened by Mr. 
J. S. Gillespie, Road Commissioner of Allegheny County, Pa. 

EFFICIENCY OF HIGHWAY ORGANIZATION 

By Col. E. A. Stevens 
State Highway Commissioner of New Jersey 

The very size and the commercial importance of the highway 
problem in these United States make efficiency necessary to a fully 
successful solution. Today we can state the problem in general 
terms only. Even the total mileage of roads and what portion of 
them have already been improved are only approximately known 
facts. There has been but little done in the way of scientific planning 
of State road work, or of any nation-wide system. Yet, even thus, 
we can easily foresee an expenditure for roads, that, in its totals, 
is staggering. There is today no need of arguing the necessity of 
good roads. The questions to be answered are: Where will the 
roads to be built be located? What will they cost? How are we 
to insure that, once built, they will give us the service for which they 
were built, and for which the people are paying? In all of this how 
are we to insure that the man who pays the bill is not to be taxed 
more than need be, that he gets value received for every dollar 
expended? 

It would be a foolish man who would undertake to dig the cellar 
and lay the foundation for his house without first deciding how much 
room he needed to house his family; how much he could afford to 
spend therefor; how he is to meet the cost of housekeeping, repairs, 
insurance, and taxes; and finally how all this is to be done without 
waste. 

In such a case, it is easy to see the need of some forethought. In 
the much larger problem of providing good roads for this country 
of ours, the very immensity of the quantities and costs, and the 
difficulty of gathering the data necessary to state them with approxi¬ 
mate accuracy, or the failure to realize the importance of this knowl¬ 
edge, seems to have prevented preliminary study. With our usual 
national impatience and confidence in ourselves, we have in general 
tackled the problem with a view limited to a solution over a very 


52 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


narrow field. Since we took up the subject twenty years or so ago, 
the problem of administration, design, and construction, have been 
changed by motor traffic. This traffic has made the road a matter 
of general and not of local interest; has shown us that hitherto 
approved methods of construction are no longer generally available, 
and that systematically organized methods of caring for our roads 
and of raising our road funds are at least worthy of our most careful 
thought. 

The road conditions of today in New Jersey and Massachusetts 
may not show the general problem. They are both old, thickly 
settled States, and they were pioneers in road improvement. But 
what road improvement has brought about in those States it will in a 
like way, if not to the same extent, also bring about elsewhere. In 
both of these States there is a motor registration of about four vehicles 
per mile of road, exclusive of city streets. In France this figure is 
about or a little less than four-tenths. 

Evidently European experiences are not to be our final and only 
guide. 

Let us therefore look at our problem for a moment without worry¬ 
ing about what others have done. The best way of doing the job 
is still an unsettled question. On whom shall we place the burden 
of arriving at the best method? Taking John Fritz’s quip that 

“an engineer is the man who can do with one dollar what any-fool 

can do with two,” it is clear that that sort of an engineer is the man 
we want. Without a force properly drilled in the work, and properly 
organized to do it, efficiency, the getting for one dollar what with 
waste will cost us two, is impossible. 

With such a force, money and time spent in careful preliminary 
study, in being sure we are right before we go ahead, will not be 
wasted. Once when in charge of a machine shop, I hired a new 
planer hand. Early in the game we had a set of small engine beds 
to plane. I gave the work, one-half to an old and tried hand, the 
other to my new man. The special job was new to both of them. 
The old hand started in to set a bed on his planer without much 
thought or study, he finished it ard set the second in a slightly 
different way, and had the chips falling from it before my new man 
did anything but sit still looking at his tool and his castings with 
his chin in his hands and a look of abstraction on his face. I came 
near bouncing him then and there, but, on second thought, let him 
work it out. He had his half done in time to help my old hand out 
with a few of his castings. That hour or more that looked like a 
waste of time turned out to be a good investment. We have, and 
are doing, our work too much in the way of my old and tried man. 
It is no wonder that roads designed and built without knowledge as 
to the traffic intensity on them should prove either too weak or more 
costly than necessary for their purpose. In both cases there is waste. 

We need, first, a force that can lay out a well thought out plan 
with a fair chance to do so without political meddling. The cost 


EFFICIENCY OF HIGHWAY ORGANIZATION 


53 


can then be forecast. Changes in traffic may lead to changes in 
general design and detail as happened at Panama, without making 
efficiency impossible. The same happens so often with even so simple 
a task as building a house, that the wise man always allows some 
margin on the first detailed estimate of cost. With the cost known, 
plans for raising money can be made for meeting it, and a program 
of construction arranged with a view of giving the earliest and 
greatest return for the money spent. 

Bond issues and the “pay as you go” plan must be considered. It 
is evident that over any period for which bonds are issued, the tax 
levy must include interest and amortization charges on the bonds, 
as well as the cost of caring for the roads built, and to meet depreci¬ 
ation. If the same amount be raised each year by taxation, and used 
to meet road building, repair and depreciation charges, it is clear that 
the amount raised for interest and amortization, and, in the first 
part of the period, some of the amount raised for repair, etc., can 
be used for new work. The net result over the whole period is a 
reduced cost for a given mileage. Against this we have the use of 
the roads built for a longer average time. This benefit, will, in many 
cases, be cheap at the increased price, but only on the assumption 
that bonds are issued on some definite and business-like plan, and the 
proceeds wisely invested. This has not always been the case. 

Any satisfactory road administration must provide for proper 
design. The data for this is not readily at hand. Traffic figures 
over an unimproved road bear no relation to the traffic to be expected 
after improvement. Even were satisfactory traffic data readily 
available, the economic values of different types of construction are 
unknown. Motor traffic for not over ten years has been a serious 
destroyer of road surfaces. It is increasing yearly in intensity. The 
surfaces specially designed to carry this troublesome and valuable 
load have not been in use long enough to determine their probable 
lives and cost of upkeep under the conditions of today. The cost of 
the road is a yearly one and must include depreciation, if the waste 
of road material is not made good every year. Therefore, it may well 
be cheaper to spend money in the repair of a cheap type, such as 
macadam or gravel, rather than to resurface with an expensive 
pavement whose life is at the best uncertain. 

For example, a macadam road under heavy traffic may be main¬ 
tained at about the following cost per square yard: 

Cents 


Stone, say \ in. or 42 lbs. @ $3.00 a ton rolled in place. 6.3 

Bituminous binder, say | gal. @ 15 cents, spread and covered. 5.6 

Ditches and drains, say. 1.0 


12.9 

If an improved type of surface is laid on the old macadam at a 
cost of say $1.25 a yard, the annual charge to be seen in the tax 
levy will for some years be merely the cost of ditch and drain work 
and a small amount to care for imperfections. The community 





54 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


might, however, have used the $1.25 for new work, or might have 
left it with the taxpayer; in either case, it is costing the interest which 
at 4 per cent is 5 cents. We have then a saving of 6.9 cents, but it 
seems fair to assume that over a life of from 10 to 20 years we should 
allow at least 0.9 cent for repairs. Our saving is then 6 cents. We 
would have to realize this saving for about 21 years to get back our 
$1.25 and if the new surface lasts less than that period it may well 
prove wasteful. 

But any such figures are of academic interest only, unless we have 
the organized repair force needed to keep our roads in repair and a 
system of accounting that will give accurate data and that is based 
on an outlook over a period somewhat longer than that covered by 
next year’s tax bill. On the basis of such a system and with such a 
force are our railroads operated. Their problem is of the same kind 
as ours—a matter of cheap and efficient transportation. It is per¬ 
haps curious that while the tendency of the day is to regulate these 
and other public service corporations as to the safety and adequacy 
of their service, and as to their methods of financing, the people of 
this country have in no case insisted on such safeguards as to the 
work of those entrusted with their roads. 

The engineering problems of railroading have been solved in their 
broad lines. We will probably be able, as in the past, to keep on 
increasing axle loads and reducing ton mile costs, but along lines 
indicated by carefully collected and thoroughly digested data of 
many years’ work. This, as in the past, will be done by thoroughly 
trained and competent men knowing their business and eagerly look¬ 
ing for ways and means of getting better results. 

With our highways problem we are now searching for the best 
solution. We have, generally speaking, inadequate and untrained 
or only partially trained forces. We have no accepted traffic unit 
and no generally recognized system of accounting. These must be 
supplied if we are to solve our problem as it should be solved. 

Mr. Gillespie: I heartily agree with Colonel Stevens. He has 
brought out many good points which we must all admit we have 
been prone to consider too lightly. It is only by careful and thorough 
consideration that matters of a constructive nature can be ma¬ 
terialized. To get efficiency in road construction it is necessary 
that definite data be secured along the lines of location, type of travel 
and type of surface. The engineer should not base his figures upon 
the travel on the old road, but upon the increased travel that will be 
diverted to the new road. As he states, sufficient attention was not 
given to these important features when our first roads were con¬ 
structed or we would not be worrying about the type of surface for 
the present day travel. 

The travel of today was not anticipated 15 or 20 years ago. The 
heavy trucks have displaced the ordinary horse drawn vehicles, and 
truck manufacturers seem to be inspired with the idea of “How 


EFFICIENCY OF HIGHWAY ORGANIZATION 


55 


big a load can we possibly haul and still maintain touring car speed/’ 
This, then brings out the question, are the roads we are now con¬ 
structing ample for future wear and tear. 

The question of efficiency is right. It must be solved and every 
corporation in existence is endeavoring to reach the highest possible 
point. To get engineers of ability to place in charge of road construc¬ 
tion, is one of the important features. The question of salary, 
ofttimes, is a drawback. When you get a good man on road work, 
pay him as much salary as any corporation would be willing to give 
him. 

The road building proposition is an enormous one. People from 
our boroughs and cities are moving out to the suburbs, purchasing 
small farms, and travelling back and forth to their places of employ¬ 
ment. The steam and electric roads, we admit, will care for a good 
part of this continual increasing travel, but there are those who have 
automobiles and must have some type of an improved road which 
will permit of travel the whole twelve months of the year. The 
establishment of well considered routes, along the lines of serving the 
majority of the people, and constructed to stand the wear and tear 
of a constantly changing mode of travel, is what is required. 

The question of financing road improvements, is one that must be 
considered by the community in which the improvement takes place. 
The bond issue and the tax levy plan both have their advocates. I, 
personally, favor the bond issue, for what is considered the most 
durable or permanent type of surface. Posterity, in my opinion, 
will not be saddled with an unjust debt. Safe and sane construction 
and systematic maintenance will insure posterity of a road com¬ 
mensurate with its value. 

The question of purchases is one that must be along systematic 
lines. Carefully prepared specifications, competitive bidding and 
rigid inspection should be the motto. Once a road is constructed, 
much can be wasted in the maintenance thereof by inconsistent or 
lax methods in the purchasing end. 

The unit cost system is being advocated more and more. It is 
therefore necessary that the purchasing of supplies be systematic, 
properly maintained records, so as to furnish accurate data for the 
unit cost scheme. 

In whole, the road construction game is a serious proposition, and 
needs to be based along the most simple and best business principles, 
and, to accomplish this, it will require well considered plans as to 
location, carefully prepared specifications and rigid inspection, and 
above all, personal supervision at all times. 


56 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


SIMPLIFIED SYSTEM OF TOWN HIGHWAY ACCOUNTS 

By Fred Buck 

Assistant Deputy Commissioner, New York State Highway Department 

In conducting the work of any town highway system which is or¬ 
ganized as a distinct branch of a state system the fact must be con¬ 
stantly borne in mind that, in order to secure the best results possible, 
simplicity must be the watchword. The comparatively great volume 
of mileage, the extremely small average amounts available per mile 
and the agencies through which these amounts must be expended all 
demand a close adherence to plain and simple methods in all stages 
of the work, and fully as much in the accounting as in any other 
branch. 

By adopting a system of town highway accounts which can be 
easily followed by the local officials in charge of the work, two impor¬ 
tant results are accomplished: First, a complete and accurate account¬ 
ing of funds expended is secured, and, second, the lessons of order and 
system learned in this are carried, perhaps in the majority of instances 
unconsciously, to other parts of the work and a more orderly and 
systematic management of the whole is secured thereby. Careful 
and systematic methods in one part of any enterprise will induce the 
same effort in other portions just as surely as lax and inefficient meth¬ 
ods, if allowed to obtain a foothold, will spread from one section to 
another and gradually seriously impair or destroy the efficiency of 
the whole. 

The system of town highway accounts which went into effect 
January 1, 1909, as a part of the present highway law of New York 
State has proven very satisfactory, and excellent results have been 
obtained under it. In order to clearly understand the workings of 
this system it must be remembered that the funds for town highway 
work in New York State are derived from two sources: First, a tax 
levied by local officials upon the several towns, this tax being supple¬ 
mented by moneys paid by the State to the towns for the same pur¬ 
pose, which moneys are known as “State aid,” the amount payable 
to each town being dependent upon the assessed valuation per mile 
of highways of the town and the amount raised by the town as the 
highway tax in each year. These moneys combined form what is 
known as the highway fund. 

In the prosecution of the work the town superintendent of highways 
is the man in charge. He hires the men and teams, purchases mate¬ 
rials, directs the work and acts as paymaster; the paying, however, 
being done by means of vouchers issued by himself as town superin¬ 
tendent, the vouchers being redeemed in cash by the supervisor (who 
is the chief fiscal officer of the town) and retained by him as a receipt 
for money paid until the close of the fiscal year, when, upon rendition 
of his annual report and its acceptance by the town board, these 
vouchers are filed with the town clerk and become a part of the 


SIMPLIFIED SYSTEM OF HIGHWAY ACCOUNTS 


57 


permanent records of the town. These vouchers, which are furnished 
to all towns by the State Highway Department, consist of a printed 
form with the necessary blank space for the insertion of the date, 
the name of the payee, the dates on which service was rendered, the 
number of hours of service or quantity of material, as the case may 
be, and the road for which it was furnished. Each voucher is attached 
to a stub upon which are blank spaces similar to that of the voucher. 

The supervisor is provided with a supervisor’s account book, 
printed and ruled to receive an entry of each voucher paid, spaces 
being provided for data relative to the voucher corresponding to 
that in the body of the voucher itself. Pages are provided at regular 
intervals for a recapitulated statement of vouchers paid, the data 
upon these recapitulated pages being finally carried forward to a 
single page thereon condensed into a form of statement, which is the 
annual report of receipts and disbursements required of each town 
supervisor under the highway law. Blank forms are provided for 
such additional copies of this report as are required to be furnished 
to the county superintendent of highways, the State highway com¬ 
mission and the State comptroller. 

No other books nor accounts are necessary for the town superin¬ 
tendent of highways or the supervisor in properly receiving, dis¬ 
bursing and accounting for the highway moneys of any town those 
which have just been described. With practically no exceptions 
the town officials are pleased with the form of accounting, and errors 
and mistakes have been reduced to a minimum so small as to be al¬ 
most a negligible quantity. Partial audits of the highway accounts 
of any town are made by a representative of the State highway de¬ 
partment at any time during the year when for any reason it shall 
be deemed that the same is necessary or expedient. By doing this 
many errors are prevented which might otherwise occur and unwise 
or extravagant expenditures are prevented, or checked if begun. 

Each year a complete audit of the highway accounts of each town 
in the State is also made, and it is found that the form of voucher 
and manner of accounting for the same provided for the supervisor 
greatly simplify and facilitate the work of the auditor. 

It is pleasing to be able to state that, while the audits of the first 
year in which this system was put in operation showed a large amount 
of errors and discrepancies (due, mainly, to unfamiliarity with the 
system or to carelessness in making entries) the audits of the years 
since the first show a constantly decreasing number of inaccuracies. 
It is also pleasing to be able to state that extremely few instances 
of actual dishonesty have ever been uncovered and that in very nearly 
all cases in which reimbursement has been required the occasion for 
the same was due to ignorance or carelessness and not to actual dis¬ 
honesty on the part of any town official. 

Those who have been most closely associated with the work are 
also firm in the belief that the quality of the town highway work 
of the State as a whole and the very excellent results secured have 


58 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


been contributed to in no small degree by the simplified system of 
town highway accounting which has been used in connection with 
the work. 

The Chairman: We will now pass to the subject of road eco¬ 
nomics by Mr. J. E. Pennybacker, Chief of Road Economics, U. S. 
Office of Public Roads. 

Mr. Pennybacker: Mr. Chairman , Ladies and Gentlemen: They 
say that when a man begins to read a paper, he can feel the psychic 
effect of the audience pulling away from him, and if he looks up 
from his paper sufficiently he will see them staring at the flags and 
corners of the room and gradually slipping out. Unfortunately 
the subject of road economics is one so vaguely understood and so 
capable of misinterpretation that it is very difficult to give it in a 
general address with anything like the exactness which the subject 
deserves. With your kind indulgence therefore I will read the 
paper—as it is very short—in which I have endeavored to lay down 
those basic principles of economics which I believe should be the 
foundation of any scheme for road improvement, whether it be 
on the part of the State, on the part of the county, or on the part 
of the municipality. It is undoubtedly true the conditions vary so 
much in different parts of the country that specific measures to meet 
conditions must be framed, but running through it all there are these 
certain fundamental considerations which no county or State can go 
amiss by observing. I will therefore start out by telling you what I 
understand road economics to be and then I will lay down the propo¬ 
sitions which I consider basic. 

ROAD ECONOMICS 

By J. E. Pennybacker 

Chief of Road Economics, U. S. Office of Public Roads 

Road economics may be defined as that branch of economic science 
which treats of the cost and use of a road as a public utility. Cost and 
public utility, in a comprehensive interpretation, are the determining 
factors with reference to the amount of money to be expended, the 
method of its procurement, the liquidation of ,any indebtedness in¬ 
curred in connection therewith, the location of the improvement, the 
character of the work, economy in the management of the project, and 
the utilization of the completed road for the economic benefit of the 
public. 

The subject is logically comprised in two divisions, the first of which 
deals with those larger questions of legislation, finance, organiza¬ 
tion, road classification or selection, the utilization of collateral 
agencies, and the management of the road as a completed project. 


ROAD ECONOMICS 


59 


The second division of the subject although more limited in scope 
than the first division is important from the standpoint of economy 
and efficiency, as it relates to the various activities in connection 
with the actual work of construction. Examples under this division 
would be the lowering of cost by the intelligent use of labor-saving 
machinery; the keeping of adequate and efficient cost records so as 
to detect extravagance, incompetence or dishonesty; the systematic 
purchase of materials, and the use of such other measures as would 
serve to produce a satisfactory road at the lowest practicable 
outlay. 

Legislation, to be effective, must be economically sound, and it is 
necessary to the intelligent framing of road laws that the economic 
considerations applicable to the subject should be known and accepted 
by the legislators. A system of financing road improvement is largely 
the outcome of legislation, but is often modified by the exercise of 
administrative discretion. Organization, like finance, is to a great 
extent prescribed by statute, but here again the personal equation 
enters largely in the determination of efficiency or inefficiency. The 
utilization of collateral facilities of the State, such as convict labor 
and the aid of State institutions for investigative and educational 
work is largely determined by law but here again administrative dis¬ 
cretion and the personal equation play an important part. The 
classification and selection of roads for improvement, although rest¬ 
ing upon legislative enactment, are much more largely an adminis¬ 
trative question than those to which I have already referred, and the 
same holds true with reference to the use of the road after completion 
so as to best serve its purpose as a public utility. 

It is thus evident that these basic factors should be correlated and 
that the undertaking as a whole should conform to those economic 
considerations which may be regarded as fundamentally sound. I 
have, therefore, formulated ten fundamental propositions which I 
hold to be incontrovertible and so self-evident as to be axiomatic. 
I shall, therefore, first submit these ten axiomatic propositions, and 
then endeavor to explain to you their practical application. 

1. That all who share in the benefits of road improvement should 
share proportionately in the burdens. 

2. That the degree of improvement should be proportionate to the 
traffic importance of the road improved. 

3. That the rate of payment or the rate of accumulation of the 
sinking fund on any public debt contracted for road improvement 
should approximately equal the deterioration of the improvement. 

4. That road building and maintenance comprise work requiring 
special qualifications on the part of those who direct it. 

5. That responsibilities should be definite as to persons. 

6. That continuous employment is more conducive to efficient 
service than intermittent and temporary employment. 

7. That the specialists who direct road work should be appointed 


60 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


instead of elected; and that they should hold office during efficiency 
instead of for a fixed term. 

8. That no road is wholly permanent and that it requires contin¬ 
uous upkeep, for which financial and supervisory provisions must 
be made. 

9. That cash is a much more satisfactory form of tax than is labor. 

10. That all agencies at the disposal of the State, capable of use 
in works of public improvement, should be so used, rather than in 
such commercial production as would conflict with private enterprises. 

The practical application of these ten axiomatic propositions does 
not involve intricate or impracticable procedure. Under the first 
proposition, that burdens and benefits should be shared proportion¬ 
ately, I would call attention to the fact that the country road is no 
longer a mere local utility. The product of the farm is absolutely 
essential to the existence of the city population, while, conversely, 
the product of the city factories finds its way to the most remote 
country districts. There is an inter-dependence which should carry 
with it a cooperative sharing of the burdens incident to improving 
the facilities of transportation between country and city. Legisla¬ 
tion should, therefore, be framed so as to provide for city taxation 
in aid of country road improvement. Automobile owners should 
individually pay a material portion of the cost of our public roads, 
and they are already cheerfully doing so in many of the States. 
Last year the state revenues derived from automobiles amounted to 
about eight million dollars applicable to roads, out of a total from all 
sources, State and local, of about two hundred and five million dol¬ 
lars. The exact method of apportioning the road taxes is a detail 
which can readily be worked out by each individual State. 

The second proposition, which calls for the improvement of roads 
in proportion to their traffic importance, strikes at the very root of 
our present method of apportioning road improvement. Too often 
have we seen examples of costly improvements distributed according 
to the dictates of a few influential citizens or according to some arbi¬ 
trary arrangement of political units or for sentimental reasons, or 
through a cheerful, haphazard indifference. It is now generally 
believed that four-fifths of the traffic of this country is carried on 
one-fifth of the road mileage. It should be manifest that the most 
heavily traveled roads should first receive attention and should be 
improved in the most substantial manner. It is entirely feasible to 
make an expert study of a county road system and indicate graphically 
the traffic areas for each important road, much as you would show 
drainage areas for waterways. The yield and the probable traffic 
in ton miles for these traffic areas can be readily determined so as 
to establish with reasonable exactness the amount of outlay which 
the traffic would justify. The relative cost of such a determination 
would be almost negligible if incurred as a preliminary to a large 
outlay for actual construction. 


ROAD ECONOMICS 


61 


The third proposition, that debts should be liquidated in propor¬ 
tion to the deterioration of the road, is intended to prevent the incur¬ 
ring of a debt which will outlive the utility which it was designed 
to create. There are two extremes in the controversy which rages 
over this question of public debt. There is the one faction which 
either opposes debt in any degree, or contends for an indebtedness 
of such short term as to make it almost a cash transaction, and asserts 
that the road is entirely destroyed long before the debt becomes due. 
The other extreme faction contends for long-term indebtedness, on 
the theory that as posterity will reap the benefits it should bear the 
burdens, and that a road well maintained never wears out. As a 
matter of fact, location, if intelligently made, should be permanent; 
likewise all reduction of grades. The drainage features, if honestly 
and efficiently constructed, should be reasonably permanent. The 
road, except under extraordinary conditions, should, therefore, be 
considered reasonably permanent as to these features. As a general 
rule, the foundation of a road should not require renewal if the road 
is subjected to adequate and continuous maintenance. Avoiding any 
detailed consideration of the exact proportion of the total cost of a 
road represented by these features, I should say that in general the 
permanent features would average at least 50 per cent of the total 
cost. So that, if the other 50 per cent must be figured as perishable 
and subject to renewal, the debt should not cover a period longer 
than twice the length of this perishable portion. For example, if 
a macadam road is constructed at a cost of $6,000 per mile and has 
an estimated life of ten years, the bonds could run twenty years, 
because, at the end of ten years the depreciation is $3,000 and the 
actual value is $3000. Another expenditure of $3000 is made and at 
the end of the twenty years when the bonds become due, there has 
been a total outlay of $9000, against which should be credited the 
permanent value of the road at $3000, making the net outlay $6000, 
or the face amount of the bonds. This is merely an example and a 
generalization. It would be desirable to ascertain the permanent 
and perishable portions in each undertaking. 

The fourth proposition, which calls for the employment of specialists 
in road work, is so nearly self-evident in its application as to require 
very little explanation. I should say, however, that if the laws of 
the State would require that all persons selected to have immediate 
direction of road or bridge construction and maintenance must possess 
practical knowledge and experience, and if this fitness should be tested 
by some sort of competitive examination to be prescribed by a State 
highway department, acting either directly or through a civil service 
commission, the net result would undoubtedly be the saving of many 
millions of dollars of road revenue and a wonderfully increased effi¬ 
ciency in our road system. 

The fifth proposition, that responsibilities should be definite as 
to persons, is aimed at the elimination of our present complex and 


62 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


cumbersome system of road management. If all of this antiquated 
organization could be swept aside and in its stead one or a few officials 
endowed with authority and charged with responsibility in each 
county, the beneficial effects could not fail to be most marked. If 
the people, individually or in a representative capacity, could immedi¬ 
ately place their finger, so to speak, upon the man responsible for the 
discharge of public duties we should have no more political juggling 
and the passing of responsibilities and duties onward in an endless 
chain. 

The sixth proposition, that continuous employment is more condu¬ 
cive to efficiency than temporary employment, finds its an ithesis 
in our present annual or semi-annual junket which we call “working 
the roads.” It is so self-evident that a minor defect in a road can 
be repaired at its inception with little effort, and that if allowed to 
go on it may require the entire reconstruction of the road surface, that 
it seems scarcely necessary to urge the soundness of this proposition. 
If a small force of laborers with necessary tools and teams were em¬ 
ployed throughout the year on the roads it would not cost any more 
money than to call out a small-sized army of road hands twice a year, 
and would not only result in quick repairs where needed but would 
also insure that the most work would be done at the places where it 
was most needed. The force would be small, mobile, trained, inter¬ 
ested, subject to effective discipline and altogether infinitely more 
efficient than the unwieldly forces now employed. 

The seventh proposition, which calls for appointment rather than 
election and for the holding of office during efficiency instead of for 
fixed terms, is designed to attract to the work men who look upon 
road-building as a life profession or occupation. A good engineer 
may be a very poor politician and a good politician may be a very 
poor engineer, but in a contest in which votes are essential the good 
politician will usually defeat the good engineer, although the position 
requires engineering ability rather than political ability. Do not 
spoil a good highway engineer or superintendent by making him cater 
to the popular fancy. If he is the right man in the right place, it 
is absurd to limit him to a fixed term, for his position is not a reward. 
The county is purchasing his services and is supposed to get value 
received, and it should continue to purchase so long as he delivers the 
goods. 

The eighth proposition, that no road is wholly permanent and that 
it requires continuous upkeep, is intended to impress upon legisla¬ 
tors and administrative officials the necessity for making adequate 
financial provision to care for roads, no matter how costly or effi¬ 
cient their construction. A house is not permanent without repair, 
a railroad track is not permanent without repair, then why should 
public funds in a large amount be expended in road construction 
which, without adequate maintenance, may deteriorate to the extent 
of 50 per cent in a few years. It would seem almost a reflection upon 
your intelligence that I should urge upon you these conclusions which 


ROAD ECONOMICS 


63 


are so generally understood and accepted, were it not for the fact that 
their acceptance is very largely in theory and not in actual practice. 

The ninth proposition, that cash is a much more satisfactory form 
of tax than labor, is put forward as a protest against the continued 
cherishing that old heirloom known as “statute labor.” If A owes B 
$10 and B has the option of collecting that $10 in cash or taking the 
amount out in labor which A shall select and which is totally unfa¬ 
miliar with the character of work which B requires and which would be 
semi-independent of any control by B, we should consider it very 
unsound business judgment if B were to accept the payment in labor 
instead of cash. If you provide an efficient highway engineer or 
county superintendent with a modest amount of cash and let him 
select competent, efficient laborers, he can quadruple the effective 
results obtained by the same number of laborers under the old statute 
system. I know that there are sections of country where it is almost 
impossible to collect a cash tax. A certain amount of discretion might 
in such cases be entrusted to the county authorities to accept pay¬ 
ment in labor. 

The tenth proposition, that state agencies which may be used in 
works of public improvement should be so used instead of in com¬ 
mercial undertakings, is directed partially toward the convict labor 
question, and is based upon the assumption that offenders against 
society owe a debt to society which should be paid in such form as 
will most benefit society, and the further assumption that honest labor 
should not be discriminated against through the sale or disposal of 
products created by criminal labor. The practical application of 
this proposition would mean the employment of convicts in road¬ 
building, the preparation of road materials, or in other works of public 
improvement so far as practicable. This proposition is intended 
also to emphasize the necessity for correlation of the States’ various 
agencies in the interest of road improvement. For example, a State 
geologist should be helpful in the selection and location of road mate¬ 
rials, the laboratories of state universities should be useful in the 
testing of materials, the university staff should be helpful in the 
giving of theoretical instruction and in many cases in practical exten¬ 
sion work, state bureaus of statistics and agriculture should be 
helpful in accumulating essential data for the road improvement work 
in the State, and state civil service commissions should be of very 
great use in the inauguration and conduct of the merit system in the 
filling of positions requiring technical or practical qualifications and 

experience. . , 

The subject of road economics is entirely too far reaching to be 
adequately treated in one paper, and I consider it more advisable 
to present to you these fundamental considerations than to attempt 
a hurried and general treatment of the whole subject. You can 
readily see that under the first division of the subject as I have out¬ 
lined it, there yet remains a great field for analysis and discussion 


64 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


in the detailed application of systems of finance and taxation and in 
the organization and working policies of highway departments for 
state and local work. These, I trust, may be dealt with in due time 
by others, although I may say that it is my purpose to pursue the 
subject further as one of the projects of my division in the United 
States Office of Public Roads. 

The second division of the subject to which I referred briefly in 
the opening paragraphs of my paper and which relates to the efficient 
and economical management of the actual work of construction is 
important enough for a separate paper. I have pointed out a few 
examples to show you what this division of the subject comprises, 
but it is manifestly impossible for me, in the space allotted, to take 
up the second division even in a general way. The time is fast com¬ 
ing, however, when only those contractors and those officials and 
engineers in charge of force account work who devote attention to 
the economics of actual construction can obtain material success. 

The Chairman : There will be a meeting of the Executive Com¬ 
mittee of the American Road Congress, at 3 p.m. Wednesday, 
tomorrow, in room 326 Georgian Terrace Hotel. The purpose of 
this meeting is to give hearings to delegates from cities desiring next 
year’s Congress, and the committee requests that all those who are 
interested in this meeting will please be present. Next will be a 
paper entitled Educational Field for Highway Departments, by 
Dr. Joseph Hyde Pratt, State Geologist of North Carolina. 

EDUCATIONAL FIELD FOR HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT 

By Joseph Hyde Pratt 
State Geologist and Highway Engineer 

There is undoubtedly a wide field of work for all highway depart¬ 
ments in an educational line, regardless of the length of time that 
the highway department may have been in existence or the actual 
amount of work that it has accomplished. I do not believe that 
any State highway department has at the present time absolute 
control of the location, construction and maintenance of all high¬ 
ways within the borders of its State, but, on the contrary, there are, 
besides the State highways, county and township highways. Over 
these latter systems, the State highway department would probably 
have, in most cases, no actual control but would simply act in an 
advisory capacity. In many States individualism and sectionalism, 
as opposed to what might be termed a State-wide community spirit, 
axe at the present time a positive detriment to the general advance¬ 
ment of the State. This is particularly true in connection with the 
public road movement of many of our States. It is exceedingly 
difficult to get the members of our general assemblies to consider 


EDUCATIONAL FIELD FOR HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT 


65 


the road problem as really a State-wide one, and although in many 
States there have been organized very efficient State highway depart¬ 
ments, they have been limited in their power and limited in the roads 
that they can control. 

For these reasons the work of a highway department is sometimes 
very greatly handicapped, and its efficiency very materially reduced. 
These conditions can only be remedied by bringing our people into 
a fuller realization that public road construction is a business prop¬ 
osition and that the best results can only be obtained when their 
location, construction and maintenance are under the supervision 
of a competent head. To accomplish this it is necessary that the 
people be informed of existing conditions, the need for changing these 
conditions, how it can be accomplished and the benefits that will 
result to the State. 

The educational work that can and should be carried on by high¬ 
way departments readily divides itself into three groups: 

I. Educational work as it relates to the employees of the highway 
department. 

II. As it relates to county and township road officials. 

III. As it relates to the people of the State. 

I. I believe there is very great need in many highway departments 
for the engineers connected with them to be in closer touch with 
each other and the head of the department. It seems to me that at 
least once a year there should be a general meeting of all the State 
engineers and superintendents to be held at some suitable and 
convenient point in the State, where they would have the opportunity 
of bringing before the meeting problems that have come up in con¬ 
nection with their individual work and upon which they desire in¬ 
formation and assistance. General instructions should be given at 
such meetings by the State highway commissioner or engineer as 
to the general policy of the department and the character of the work 
that they wish to accomplish. I believe that by so doing, the effici¬ 
ency of the work of the department will be increased and the engi¬ 
neers and superintendents themselves will take a more lively and a 
keener interest in seeing that the work accomplished is of the very- 
highest order and that the part of the organization under their 
administration is the most efficient. 

For such a conference there is no reason why all the engineers 
connected with the department should not get together, because 
they can be ordered to attend by the commissioner, and such attend¬ 
ance should be considered as part of their official duties, and all 
expenses incurred by the engineers should be borne by the highway 
department. It is not a bad idea to have in attendance at such a 
conference some engineer of national reputation to address the 
members. 

The State highway department will find that it is necessary to 
train and educate young men in order to develop a corps of engineers 


66 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


of sufficient magnitude to carry on the work that is required of the 
department. A student just out from college, although having 
received the best training in the highway engineering department, 
is not a competent highway engineer, but is capable of becoming one. 
He can work well under more experienced men, but is not in a position 
to take charge of road work at the beginning of his career, and he 
cannot develop into a competent highway engineer without working 
under and coming in contact with more experienced men. The 
meetings referred to above are of very great importance and benefit 
to this type of man, and are of very material assistance in training 
him for the work that will be required of him. 

II. The educational field of the highway department, in con¬ 
nection with county and township road officials, will have to be 
cooperative. As the State highway department has absolute con¬ 
trol only over State roads, and as the county and township road 
commissions have control over the balance of the roads, there is 
very great need in many instances for a highway department to carry 
on educational work in the counties and townships. 

In the first place, the highway department must be able to show 
that they have something to give to the county that is better than 
the county has in connection with its road work. First of all, they 
must bring the county and road commissioners to a realization 
that it is just as necessary that they have a competent engineer in 
charge of their county road work as it is for the State in State work, 
and if the State roads have been built in a creditable manner, there 
is not much difficulty in demonstrating this point to the county 
officials. It is harder, however, to convince the county and township 
officials that it is necessary to have men trained in road construction 
to act as superintendents of their roads. It is in the appointment of 
superintendents and foremen that politics has played too great a 
part in road work, and to the detriment of the resulting road. These 
men should be absolutely under the control of the highway engineer, 
and, as stated above, should be men who are familiar with and trained 
in road work. 

These men need to keep up with the advancements made in road 
construction and maintenance, and in order to keep them abreast 
of the times, I believe that road institutes should be held in the coun¬ 
ties at certain intervals, at which time various subjects relating to 
road location, construction and maintenance should be taken up and 
discussed. The county superintendent of roads or county road 
engineer, if there should be one, should hold these meetings once a 
month or once in two months, when he will go over with his foremen 
and supervisors different phases of the road work and give them an 
opportunity to bring up any questions or problems that have come up 
during the previous month in regard to their work. The State high¬ 
way department should have general supervision of these foremen’s 
institutes. 


EDUCATIONAL FIELD FOR HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT 


67 


It will be found that such institutes will react very favorably on 
the foremen, and will cause them to take a much greater interest in 
their work and make them realize that they are a part of an organi¬ 
zation which is building up their county or district. One particular 
feature that is constantly needing development, and regarding which 
supervisors and foremen need constant instruction, is in connection 
with the maintenance of their roads, and at these institutes instruction 
and directions can be given as to how to repair temporarily serious 
breaks on bridges, culverts or the surface of the road, so that the road 
is made passable until the superintendent can be notified and a force 
of road men detailed to make the permanent repairs. 

Those connected with the construction of public roads are like 
any other set of men, in that if they can be made to have a personal 
interest in their work, they accomplish more and with better results. 
I believe this personal interest of the road men is of as great or greater 
value in connection with building roads as in any other kind of work, 
inasmuch as the question of the disposal of dirt and rock in grading 
is so dependent on the road men themselves that they can very often 
waste a lot of dirt and also a great deal of time unless someone is 
standing over them constantly directing each individual man’s work. 

The highway department should supply books of instruction for 
the superintendent, foremen and supervisors, and if used in con¬ 
nection with the institutes they will very materially increase the 
value of the institute and the efficiency of the men. I have found 
that the information which it is desired to convey to the road engi¬ 
neers, superintendents and foremen is perhaps better supplied by 
short pamphlets on the different subjects than by trying to bring 
it all under one book. Thus the highway division of which I am 
director has published a series of Good Roads Circulars for the use 
of the engineers, superintendents and foremen of North Carolina 
on the following subjects: 

Dirt Roads and Their Maintenance. 

Suggestions to Road Officials Concerning the Construction and 
Drainage of Public Roads. 

Construction of the Sand-Clay Road. 

Status and Duties of the Road Engineer. 

Economics of Convict Labor in Road Construction. 

Organization of Road Forces. 

The Use of the Abney Hand Level. 

Construction of the Split Log Drag. 

Culverts and Small Bridges for County Roads. 

At least once a year State highway department should call an 
open meeting in each county, to be held at the office of the county 
or road commissioners, for the purpose of affording instruction relative 
to matters pertaining to road and bridge construction and mainte¬ 
nance, and one of the State highway engineers should be detailed to 
conduct the meeting. Upon receipt of such notice from the State 


68 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


highway department, the county commissioners shall call such meet¬ 
ing on the date set by the State highway department and shall be 
present themselves and notify the county engineer, the road officials 
of each township and the county road superintendent or district 
road superintendents to be present at such meetings in person. Each 
of the road officials thus notified to attend shall be paid the regular 
per diem allowance and expenses in the usual manner for the actual 
time in attendance at such meeting. If the above is incorporated as 
part of the official duties of the State highway department, it becomes 
obligatory upon them to call these meetings and also makes it obli¬ 
gatory upon the county officials to attend. 

Once a year there should be held a good roads institute, either in the 
office of the State highway department or, preferably, at the State 
university or other State institution, where a course in highway 
engineering is given. At such an institute, which should be held 
for at least a week, all county and township engineers and superin¬ 
tendents should be obliged to attend as part of their official duties. 
The program for the institute should be worked out by the State 
highway department in cooperation with the State educational 
institution, if the institute is held at the latter place. It will be found 
that as these institutes are carried on from year to year, they soon 
become clearing houses for all road problems of the State in which 
they are held. 

Road officials should be encouraged to subscribe to one or more 
road magazines. I believe it will be found very efficacious for the 
counties to subscribe for these magazines and have them sent to 
their road officials. 

III. In some States the educational work that a highway depart¬ 
ment can carry on in connection with informing the people of the 
State as to the road situation, is the most important phase of edu¬ 
cational work to be done. As we all know, the status and life of a 
State highway department are dependent upon the people, and 
such a department can only live and develop as it is able to show 
to the people that it is efficient and of economic value to the 
State. 

Where we have the three sets of road officials—State, county and 
township—in charge of different portions of a State’s system of 
roads, there is more or less conflict between the county and township 
officials and the State officials, and this is apt to engender a feeling 
of antagonism against the State department. This will always be 
the case until our people, as a whole, realize that the welfare of the 
State must come before that of the county; the county before that of 
the township; the township before that of the community, and the 
community before that of the individual family. At the present 
time, in many States we are apt to consider things in reverse order to 
what I have just mentioned. We cannot afford to develop a county 
at the expense of the State. 


EDUCATIONAL FIELD FOR HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT 


69 


I believe that a State highway department should show to the 
people of a State the work it is doing, what it has accomplished and 
what it expects to accomplish. This can be done very effectively 
by illustrated lectures to be given at the county seats, and by the 
publication of reports, giving a description of the work done during 
the previous year. These should be illustrated, and in this connection 
it will be found that cooperative work with counties can be very 
advantageously carried on by illustrating in the reports the best 
work that has been done in several of the counties, giving in con¬ 
nection with the illustrations cost of the construction work. It 
will be an incentive for county officials to try to see that they get the 
best results at the least cost. 

In many States, counties and townships have been authorized by 
the legislature to issue bonds for road construction. In some States 
the State highwy department has the supervision of the location 
of the roads which shall be built after the bond issue. In other 
States the whole control of the expenditure of the bond issues is left 
to the local authorities. In this case the State highway department 
could only act in an advisory capacity. They should, however, 
try in every way to give assistance to the local road officials, not 
only in the location of the road, but in its method of construction. 
This will be accomplished largely by educational methods. This 
can be brought about by consultation of engineers of the State high¬ 
way department with the local road officials. In giving advice 
regarding the location, they should explain in detail their reasons 
for the location made, and show how, in the end, it makes a cheaper 
and better road. They should assist in the determination of suitable 
surfacing material and advise the local officials as to the most suit¬ 
able and economical material available for their use. 

Instruction by means of publications and conferences should be 
given local road officials in regard to bridge and culvert work. Speci¬ 
fication blanks can be prepared for distribution amongst the counties 
on request. 

In constructing a system of improved roads in any State, there 
will probably not be over 50 to 75 per cent of the roads that will 
have hard surfaces, and the balance will come under the head of 
dirt roads. In some States 60 per cent of the roads will be dirt 
roads. For this reason it is a good policy for a State highway depart¬ 
ment to give serious consideration to the care and upkeep of the 
dirt road, and they should call the attention of local road officials 
to this and give them instruction as to the maintenance of such roads. 
Circulars can be prepared and distributed to advantage amongst 
the people of a State, describing the system of improved roads and 
calling attention to the dirt roads leading to them, and how, by a 
little thought and care, these dirt roads may be kept in hard, good 
condition the greater portion of the year. I do not believe any of 
our State highway departments are giving sufficient thought and 


70 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


consideration to the dirt road, and I am confident that a great deal 
of good can be accomplished by these departments giving more heed 
to this kind of road and instructing road officials as to their con¬ 
struction and maintenance. 

It is just as necessary that men skilled in road work have super¬ 
vision of the construction and maintenance of the dirt road as the 
dirt road. I do not believe it is putting it too strongly to say that 
one-tenth to one-fifth of the time and labor expended in all our States 
in public road work is absolutely wasted, and this is practically 
true of the amount expended in connection with the dirt road. The 
State highway department should consider it one of their duties to 
give such instruction as may be necessary to enable the people to 
save this enormous amount of money that is now being wasted each 
year. 

With the advent of the automobile traffic conditions on the public 
roads have been very materially changed, and not only is it necessary 
for the State highway department to make a thorough study of these 
new traffic conditions and the effect of these new vehicles on the pub¬ 
lic road, but it is also necessary for the department to give instruction 
and advice to the users of these vehicles, as to the effect of such 
traffic on the roads and why it is necessry to legislate in regard to 
their use. The passage of laws regulating traffic will not be sufficient 
to control it for a great many years unless the users of the road are 
educated as to the need of such traffic regulations. Therefore 
circulars should be prepared and distributed, discussing the speed 
laws, method of passing vehicles, the rights that the users of vehicles 
have on the public roads, and the license fees or tax required of all 
users of the roads. I believe that as we are able to inform our people 
in regard to the public road, that it belongs to all the people and not 
to any one class of users, and that the laws and regulations regarding 
the use of the public roads are passed in order to make the road of 
greatest service to the greatest number of people, that such regu¬ 
lations can soon be enforced with but little difficulty. 

The new traffic conditions have increased the dangers of a traveler 
on the public road, and I think the highway departments should begin 
to take up a plan of educational work that has been inaugurated, 
by the railroads, that is, “Safety first.” Pamphlets should be sup¬ 
plied to users of the road, cautioning them in using the road to give 
first consideration to the safety of other users of the road, and there¬ 
fore be careful in passing other vehicles and in rounding sharp turns. 
If all would cooperate and have the public’s interest at heart, the 
accidents that occur on our public roads could be reduced to a mini¬ 
mum. Each year there are an enormous number of accidents at 
railroad crossings, some of which are due to carelessness of the 
driver, others to the bad condition of the crossing, and some due to 
negligence of the railroad. Here again is an opportunity for the 
State highway departments to do very efficient educational work. 


DISCUSSION 


71 


Have warning notices posted at railroad crossings. Have cards for 
distribution, cautioning all users of the road to take extra precautions 
in crossing railroad tracks. The greatest good, however, can be 
accomplished by working out a standard plan of crossing for a rail¬ 
road, when an overhead or underground crossing is not possible. 
Do not approach a railroad crossing on a grade of over 4J per cent, 
and if possible, for 15 feet each side of the rails themselves have 
the road level. Then keep the road-bed smooth and hard and the 
space between the tracks flush with the rail. 

In order to carry out this, it will be necessary to obtain the co¬ 
operation of the local road officials and the railroads. But as it is 
right in line with the “safety first” movement of the railroad, little 
difficulty should be encountered in obtaining their cooperation. 

In many States the governors are issuing proclamations for civic 
days, and usually one of these days in known as Good Roads Day. 
Here the State highway departments have a splendid opportunity 
of getting in direct contact with those people that have the welfare 
of the state at heart. The departments can assist the communities 
in arranging programs for good roads days and furnishing lectures as 
far as possible. 

One other phase of educational work that is, perhaps, as important 
as any thus far discussed, is that of constructing a sample of model 
road in those sections of the State where there are no good roads and 
the people are not aroused to their need of them and the beneficial 
results that can be derived from them. The construction of a quarter 
to a half a mile, or even one or two hundred yards of good road in 
such a community will often be the means of arousing the community 
to a realization of what they need, with the result that they soon 
work out a plan by which they can obtain a system of good roads. 

The Chairman: The discussion of Dr. Pratt’s paper will be 
opened by our friend from Oklahoma, Col. Sidney Suggs, State 
Highway Commissioner. 

Mr. Suggs: Mr. President and Delegates: In opening this discus¬ 
sion, I fully realize its great importance and far reaching effect. 
It is not my desire to indulge in theories, but will, as briefly as 
possible, draw a practical application of the subject to the condi¬ 
tions which have had to be met in my State where I am best ac¬ 
quainted with conditions. This subject peculiarly applies to Okla¬ 
homa for the reason that my department has been made almost 
exclusively an educational department. There has never been as 
much as one dollar appropriated for the use of the department not¬ 
withstanding the creation of the department was provided for in the 
constitution in a clause which reads, “The legislature is hereby 
directed to create a department of highways.” 

I was president of the Indian Territory Good Roads Association 


72 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


while W. R. Goit was president of the Oklahoma Good Roads Asso¬ 
ciation. After Statehood, the two associations were consolidated, 
we began activities with the formation of the new State, a legis¬ 
lative committee was appointed to meet with the constitutional 
committee on highways. The constitutional provision requiring 
the creation of a department of highways was the result of the work 
done by the legislative committee. The first and second legislatures 
gave little or no heed to this constitutional provision, the com¬ 
mittee, however, was persistent, and by determined and intelligent 
effort succeeded in getting the third legislature to vitalize this pro¬ 
vision of the constitution. 

The vote was close, in fact, State Senator Pat Gouilding who is 
now serving on the Capitol Building Commission, changed his vote 
in order to vitalize this provision of the constitution. The State 
department of highways was created, the bill provided for the 
appointment of a commissioner of highways by the governor. 
The law conferred powers upon the department and defined its 
multiplicity of duties, but it failed to appropriate as much as one 
dollar for its use. As a means of support a State license fee of $1 
was taxed against every automobile in the State, but there was no 
penalty attached to failure to pay, and the collection of this tax 
has been expensive and very humiliating to the department. 

Notwithstanding this handicap, the department has gone for¬ 
ward with the duties prescribed by the legislature. It has col¬ 
lected much valuable data and has laid out and made a map of 
over 2,400 miles of State roads, which have been submitted to the 
legislature, and which have been approved by the president and 
secretary of the State Good Roads Association, and have been sent 
to the joint committee of congress. 

The department, by diligent and systematic inquiry learned that 
3,300 township trustees were spending from road levies and from 
bond issues from three and a half to four millions of dollars annually, 
without the assistance or advice of an engineer. This enormous 
waste may be illustrated by comparing it with the story of the old 
lady who carried water from the spring to the chicken lot in a pan 
full of holes—the water all leaked out before she got to the chicken 
trough. Large sums of money and much energy have been wasted, 
and we are still in the mud. 

The removal of the 3,300 township trustees proved to be a diffi¬ 
cult task, inasmuch as a few of these township trustees were backed 
by what we term in Oklahoma, the wrinkled tin culvert, tin bridge 
and toy tool grafters who claimed that the highway department 
was interfering with home industry. The fight for their elimina¬ 
tion has, I am proud to say, been fairly successful. Township 
officials in most of the townships have retired to private life and 
the rest of them are making arrangements to retire as soon as the 
taxpayers of their respective counties take a vote upon their elimi- 


DISCUSSION 


73 


nation as the law provides. So much for the early road history 
of Oklahoma, and this brings us up to the present. 

I fully agree with Dr. Pratt when he says there is a wide field 
of useful work for all highway departments along educational lines. 
In this connection I am pleased to report that in Oklahoma we 
have taken this proposition to the rural and high school pupils, 
both boys and girls, and since the 12th of last month we have carried 
the message to 3,000 pupils, and have organized Good Road and 
Civic Clubs in four counties. On the 16th and 17th of October the 
high school pupils of Seminole county built the first mile of educa¬ 
tional road in the State. So much interest was manifested by the 
pupils on this occasion in the construction of the road that a sched¬ 
uled football game was abandoned in order that they might do the 
work. The construction work was done by the student body, 
including the paying of the expenses of the engineer, the driving 
of the grade stakes, and the carrying of the chain and leveling rod. 
The width of this road is 20 feet from curb to curb, leaving a park¬ 
way on either side. The high school girls who have charge of the 
civic department of the work, assisted the boys in setting out nut 
and fruit trees along this educational mile of road. In Stevens 
county there have already been organized 1,500 pupils and plans 
have been made to build a mile of educational road in each of the 
three county commissioners’ districts. The county school super¬ 
intendent, Mr. A. L. Morton is taking a lively interest in this work 
and declares that the pupils of Stevens county, 8,623 in number, 
will build one mile of educational road in each of the seventy-five 
school districts in the county. All work is to be done under the 
direction of a competent engineer, who holds a commission from 
the department of highways, and at the expense of the organiza¬ 
tion. This engineer is instructed to make plans, profiles and specifi¬ 
cations, giving first the location, width of road, the drainage, the 
size and location of culverts and bridges, according to the topog¬ 
raphy of the abutting lands, the plans state how much clearing is 
to be done, the number of yards of earth or rock to be moved, 
together with the estimated cost of each mile; tools and material 
are to be furnished by the commissioners. When preparations are 
completed, when the material is on the ground for the culverts and 
small bridges, the delegates regularly elected, dressed in their work¬ 
ing clothes, from each school in the county, will come and do the 
work themselves under the direction of the engineer commissioned 
by the State Highway Department. Plans will be made for the 
constant dragging of the road. At the proper season the girls will 
finish the work by setting out trees along both sides of the high¬ 
way. Some of our nurserymen have already agreed to furnish 
trees free of charge in localities where they cannot be gathered 
from the forest. Our State superintendent of schools has caught 
the inspiration and will at once embrace the study of scientific road 
building in all the schools of the State. In my opinion this is a 


74 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


most important subject, it is one, my friends, that means more to 
all the people than any other that is before the public for unbiased, 
conscientious and sincere discussion, and is well worthy of the con¬ 
sideration of the most progressive and brainiest thinkers of the age. 

Mr. President and delegates of this convention. I trust that in 
your wisdom you will take up the Unit System of Road Owning, 
Improving and Maintaining , having for its slogan Safety, Economy 
and Permanence, and to establish State roads which are to be built 
and maintained by the State with its own resources. Let those 
resources come from prison labor, automobile tax, pipe line tax, 
telephone tax, or from any other source of revenue. The State 
can then, under the Department of Highways, proceed to lay out 
State roads along the lines of least resistance, avoid springy places, 
movable sand beds and impassable grades. These roads will natu¬ 
rally pass through counties, and townships, relieving the tax payers 
of the counties and townships through which they pass of the bur¬ 
den of building and maintaining these roads forever, from the fact 
that they at once become the property of the State and are one of 
its most valuable assets. This system would demand the organiza¬ 
tion of State road districts numbered in the order of their organization. 

The suggestion has been made to do away with 7500 road over¬ 
seers who under our present condition (not worthy to be called a 
system) are allowed $80 per annum each, or $600,000 each year 
and to substitute for the present system of warning out all able 
bodied men and boys to work the road four days in the year or 
pay $5 in cash, the plan of collecting from each man who is sub¬ 
ject to road duty one-half of this amount, $2.50 and place these 
sums in the hands of the county treasurer with other road funds, 
to be divided among the county and township road commissioners 
by some fixed rule. A county road commissioner and a county 
engineer should be appointed by the commissioners on efficiency 
alone, requiring them to execute a suitable bond for the faithful 
performance of their duties, and a proper accounting for every dollar 
spent on the county roads. All county roads should be designated 
and marked county lateral roads connecting with other counties 
and built to the State roads. Township lateral roads are to be 
built, owned and maintained by township to connect with county 
roads, all State, county and township roads must harmonize. This 
system, in my opinion, will solve the road problem in each State, 
and at the same time be a great incentive to the educational con¬ 
struction and maintenance of all the roads within the State. 

I suggest that you appoint a committee composed of highway 
commissioners and engineers to work out a unit plan along the 
lines above mentioned and to make report to this congress. The 
result of this committee’s work to be submitted to the different 
State legislatures. 

In Oklahoma there are 50,000 miles of dirt roads that will be 
good 90 per cent of the time if they are properly drained, graded 


DISCUSSION 


75 


and crowned, then kept up with light wooden drags. The rural 
and high school pupils are also taught the art of building sand-clay 
and clay-sand roads, realizing that a good foundation must be laid 
for a hard surface or metal road, we are at least laying this foundation. 
We have already taken up the safety crossing for railroads, the 
department has made standard plans that have been carefully gone 
over and endorsed by the corporation commission and accepted 
by a number of the railways of the State. 

In Oklahoma we are discouraging grade or surface crossings, and 
asking wherever it is possible, overhead or under-crossings be adopted. 
Safety First is the motto. I also agree heartily with Dr. Pratt in 
his recommendation that all State and county engineers, together 
with road commissioners should meet at least once a year for the 
purpose of comparing notes and working out problems that present 
themselves in connection with their individual work. This organi¬ 
zation should, in my opinion, extend to the States so that all road 
work could be harmonized. Some may disagree with me when I 
assert that no standard plans can be established for the building 
or maintaining of earth roads. This, I contend, is absolutely im¬ 
possible from the fact that we have so many different kinds of soil 
to contend with through which the roads pass, so we, in Oklahoma, 
have decided to make the best we can out of what we have, and 
we believe that a well drained, well graded and properly crowned 
road, kept up by the frequent use of the wooden drag, is the best 
road for the hoof or the wheel, at least, it is much better than a 
poorly built and poorly drained hard surface road, and is much 
easier and cheaper to maintain. 

With your permission I want to go on record as saying that it 
requires more brains, more efficient engineering and more patience 
to build a good dirt road than it does to build almost any kind of 
a hard surface road. I mean the building of a road that will some 
time in the future be the substantial and everlasting foundation of 
a hard surface road. I tell my people in every community that 
I visit, that some day the government will organize and begin the 
building, owning and maintaining of a system of highways, and we 
must be able to turn over to them a good foundation for their road, 
and urge every community to take great pains with their engineer¬ 
ing and construction of every mile they build, no matter whether 
it be a State, county or township road. Then, if it is ever used 
for a hard surface road, they will be consoled by the fact that they 
will have at least the best road that can possibly be built out of 
the material at hand. One can hardly find a road 5 miles in 
length, without coming across 100 and possibly 200 feet of road 
that is always good, no matter what the rainfall is or the traffic 
along this particular road. Why is this? I have often put this 
question to road overseers and road commissioners, and then had 
to answer that it was nature-mixed and nature-drained, now let us 
intelligently try and imitate nature's work. 


76 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


Now, as to the automobile proposition, I believe that it is the 
duty of all automobile manufacturers’ associations and all auto¬ 
mobile owners to take up automobile legislation. They should be 
interested more than any other class in the building of good roads, 
especially as to the conservation and preserving of the roads over 
which they travel and the duties of the drivers as to the passing of 
other vehicles, turning sharp comers, in fact, everything pertaining 
to the life of the automobile and its traffic, and those interested in 
road building would prove to be great allies in assisting in getting 
such legislation as will be effective. This is a matter which con¬ 
cerns not only the driver of a 60-horse-power car, but down to the 
poor fellow who is walking with a stick along the public highways 
and is liable to be run down even by the most careful driver. 

The Chairman: Next will be a paper entitled “The Extent to 
Which Engineering Schools Should Devote Attention to Highway 
Engineering Instruction,” by Prof. E. J. McCaustland, Dean of 
the School of Engineering, University of Missouri, Columbia, Mo. 

THE EXTENT TO WHICH ENGINEERING SCHOOLS 
SHOULD DEVOTE ATTENTION TO HIGHWAY 
ENGINEERING INSTRUCTION 

By E. J. McCaustland 

Dean, School of Engineering, University of Missouri, Columbia, Mo. 

The extent to which engineering schools should devote atten¬ 
tion to any particular phase of instruction should depend in a great 
measure upon the recognized importance of that phase of engineer¬ 
ing when considered in connection with the economic and social 
life of the people of the State and nation. 

This does not mean an importance measured solely by the amount 
of public interest at any particular time, for such interest is often 
aroused in connection with matters which are of only minor impor¬ 
tance. It does not mean an importance measured by the oppor¬ 
tunities for men to secure remunerative employment, although such 
reason should not be wholly ignored. Nor does it mean an impor¬ 
tance measured by the amount of public moneys expended, for it 
is a matter of common knowledge that money is at times lavishly 
poured out for very inconsequential, trivial or temporary purposes. 
What it does mean, however, is an importance having its roots in 
those essential matters which function so largely in extending and 
enlarging the field of human progress, development and ultimate 
happiness. Such matters are, the extension of education, nurture 
and development of religious and social life, the promotion of ease 
and comfort of living, and in a word, everything which helps to 
advance civilization. 

Much has been written and spoken on the relation of good and 
bad roads to illiteracy and on the restrictions in the way of religious 


HIGHWAY ENGINEERING INSTRUCTION 


77 


growth and social development in communities brought about by 
impassable country roads. These relations and restrictions are 
so clearly and so generally understood that it is only necessary to 
mention them in this connection. No one will deny their truth 
and their overshadowing importance. 

Gaged then by this final standard, highway engineering should 
have recognition in any scheme devoted to the training of civil 
engineers. 

The question of the amount and character of such special recog¬ 
nition depends, of course, upon the fundamental plan of organiza¬ 
tion of the civil engineering curriculum under consideration. 

The foundation work in the mathematical and physical sciences 
as commonly included in civil engineering courses is admirably 
adapted to furnish the necessary and sufficient basis for an excel¬ 
lent training in highway engineering. This fundamental science 
training involves, among other things, specific preparation in the 
fields of surveying, chemistry, geology, and economics. For the 
highway engineer there is need of special concentration on all of 
these subjects in order to enable him to make the application of 
their underlying principles to the practical problems he will meet 
in his professional experience. This “special concentration” may 
be embodied within the limits of a very few credit hours, and every 
course in civil engineering should make provision for it. 

In courses of elementary surveying and in railroad curves, land 
surveying and railroad location afford the practical problems and 
furnish the ultimate purpose for the course, so far as such purpose 
is purely practical. But railway location is highly specialized, and 
the attention of the student during his study should be called by 
way of contrast to problems of highway location. Similarity in 
the problem should be made clear, and contrasts emphasized for 
further study. Train resistance, compensation of curves, and cross- 
sections of roadbed for railroads are very different problems from 
kinds of traffic, ruling grades, sight distances and maximum curva¬ 
ture on highways. Many highway locations have been spoiled by 
railroad engineers who could not adapt their knowledge to the 
demands of their problem. It is for the schools to train their men 
to “sense” their problems before they attempt a solution. This 
can be done only by “special concentration” as noted above. 

In chemistry, the under graduate student in highway engineering 
should have a very specialized course in organic chemistiy, ele¬ 
mentary in its nature, but concise in its application with reference 
to the principal series of hydrocarbons. He should know how to 
interpret properly, if not himself perform, all the standard tests 
on bituminous materials and he should be able to judge fairly .of 
the proper field for the use of road oils both for binding material 
and as dust palliatives. 

Bituminous materials are growing in favor and in extent of use 
every year for roads and pavements and scores of practicing high- 


78 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


way engineers are entirely ignorant of the characteristics of such 
materials. They purchase at random, manipulate by trial, and 
wonder why their roads fall to pieces. 

All men being trained as civil engineers should have a general 
course in geology and for highway engineers this should be followed 
by a special course dealing with the origin, nature and physical char¬ 
acteristics of soils. Since by far the greater proportion of the roads 
of the country are now, and for a long period to come will be con¬ 
structed of earth it is clear that the study of soils must be of prime 
importance. In most road building the soil is to be compacted 
to furnish a foundation, and in all road foundations drainage must 
be accomplished. A knowledge of the nature of the soil therefore 
must precede any satisfactory design or construction. It is not 
necessary to allot much time in the curriculum to this subject since 
a fair knowledge of chemistry, physics and general geology will 
enable the student to “read it up” with ease, but its importance 
should be emphasized in the mind of the embryo highway engineer. 

A general course in economics is the necessary part of an engi¬ 
neers training and the highway engineer should be made familiar 
with the subject of trade and transportation as a whole, and with 
highway transportation as a special field. He should also become 
familiar with methods of financing highway construction such as 
bonding, general and special taxation and the like. He should have 
some knowledge of the laws governing the inauguration of public 
work, the advertising for bids and the letting of contracts, the 
guaranteeing of quality and the essence of contracts. 

It is of interest and value to the highway engineer, but probably 
not essential, that he should be familiar with the historical develop¬ 
ment of the subject of highway construction. If he is to carry weight 
as an advisor in public matters, the possession of historical per¬ 
spective could not fail to give emphasis and support to his expressed 
opinions. 

Finally he should have opportunity to make special study of road 
materials in the laboratory. Sands, cements, mortars, stone for 
road metal, bituminous materials and all other substances that 
go into the construction of highways should become more or less 
familiar to him through actual manipulation. 

Now all these various lines of study as above recited, should 
not require any great amount of time if the student has previously 
been given a fundamental training in the subjects mentioned. Since 
practically all the civil engineers in the schools of the country are 
trained in the elements of surveying, chemistry, geology, economics, 
history and materials of construction, the additional training needed, 
as outlined above, can no doubt be included within a total of two 
or three credit hours for two semesters or four to six credit hours 
in all. A credit hour means a lecture, recitation or laboratory 
period per week for the half year. Actual practice in the schools 
varies very widely throughout the country as shown by the fol¬ 
lowing tabulation. 


PROCEEDINGS 


79 


Table Showing Time Devoted to Highway Engineering Instruction in Various 
Universities of the United States 


NAME OP SCHOOL 

LENGTH OP COURSE 

TOTAL CREDIT HOURS HIGHWAY 
ENGINEERING INSTRUCTION 



Required 

Elective 

Columbia. 

5 years 

2 

16 

Cornell. 

4, 5 and 6 years 

1 


Illinois. 

4 years 

2 


Michigan. 

4 years 


3 

Minnesota. 

5 years 

3 


Missouri. 

5 years 

2 

2 

University of Wash¬ 
ington. 

4 years 

2 

4 

Wisconsin. 

4 years 


4 

Yale. 

5 years 

2 



The Chairman: We will now listen for a few moments to Mr. 
Phil Mitchell, from Illinois. 

Mr. Mitchell: I came down here in connection with my asso¬ 
ciate Mr. Woodcock, who is Secretary of the Rock Island County 
Highway Improvement Association, of which I have the honor to 
be President, to learn something at this meeting. We make no 
pretense to scientific knowledge of roads. We know that in our 
county we have very poor roads and we are ambitious to improve 
them. Rock Island County is comparatively a small county in 
area, but it is a rich and fertile county with a population of about 
75,000. I merely wish to state what we have attempted to accom¬ 
plish in our community toward getting good roads. We made a 
vigorous campaign, we visited every township in the county and 
argued the issue of SI,000,000 worth of bonds for the construction 
of 131 miles of roads which had been selected and designated by 
our Board of Supervisors, and nobody as far as I ever heard, objected 
to the roads that were selected. They were deemed a wise selec¬ 
tion. Our object was to provide ways and means of building those 
roads. When I was elected to the Presidency of this Association, 
I was appalled by the magnitude of the proposition. I did not see 
how anything could be accomplished and thought we would simply 
go as we had been going for the last 50 years, electing incompetent 
road commissioners or supervisors, one of whom would plow a ditch 
on one side of the road and turn over a little soil there and then 
the next commissioner would come along and turn it back again. 
That is about the way we had been going along in the past. We 
made an earnest effort in favor of these bonds of a million dollars 
which were made legal. It was made possible to legally issue them 
by means of the Tice Law which our good Chairman here, who is 
a member of the Illinois State Highway Commission and Mr. Bradt, 
who is also here, can tell you more about than I can. I wish to 
say in this connection that both these gentlemen and the other 



















80 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


two members of the Illinois Highway Commission gave us most 
efficient assistance in our campaign, coming to our meetings, not 
arguing particularly for any special bond issue, because that was 
out of their province, but giving us information as to the kind of 
roads we should have and how they could be gotten. I am very 
sorry to state that we were unable to succeed in our campaign and 
we feel as though we were stabbed in the back by the efforts of our 
Board of Supervisors. We have 35 members of the Board in our 
county, and when we presented this proposition for bond issue 
before them, after it had been thoroughly discussed and canvassed 
and published throughout by the papers in every township in the 
county, we went before them and asked for this million dollar bond 
issue and they went into secret session and then beat the propo¬ 
sition. Now the only question we wanted was for the Board of 
Supervisors to agree to leave this proposition to the people, and if 
it had been beaten at the polls, of course, we would have submitted 
with good grace. But we did not submit with good grace to the 
manner in which it was withheld from the ballot. There is no 
sentence the great Lincoln ever uttered probably that has been 
quoted oftener than this, “ Government of the people, for the people 
and by the people.” That was all we asked in this proposition, 
that the people should pass sentence on whether we should or should 
not issue these bonds, and we were deprived of the privilege of 
voting on that proposition, but our Association is still very much 
alive, as evidenced by the fact that Mr. Woodcock and myself are 
both here to seek information along lines leading to the ultimate 
construction of 131 miles of good roads in Rock Island County. 
Now the cost to the farmers there was comparatively little. I 
have a farm and it would have cost me $10.82 a year on the first 
year for these bonds, which would provide for the issue and retire¬ 
ment of $50,000 of bonds every year and gradually that tax would 
become less; probably it would not become less in a way because the 
building of 131 miles of roads in our county would be such an object 
lesson that the work would be extended and we would get more roads, 
but that is what we attempted to accomplish. 

The Chairman : Is there any further discussion? Remember the 
annual banquet this evening at the Kimball House. You can secure 
your tickets at the office. This completes the program for the 
morning session, and we will now take a recess until 2 p.m. 

November 10, 2 p.m. 

Mr. Page in the Chair 

The Chairman: Gentlemen, in the movement for better roads 
throughout the United States, we have experienced a great many 
vicissitudes. One of the greatest drawbacks, in my judgment, which 
has confronted our work, has been petty politics and a poor selec¬ 
tion of the proper man to take the responsible positions. We all 


HOW TO TAKE THE ROADS OUT OF POLITICS 


81 


remember a few years ago, when politics throughout the country 
changed, there were six States in the Union whose change of the 
political parties brought about almost a complete change, in even 
the technical positions in the Highway Departments of those States. 
Men that had had years of experience in engineering work and had 
learned local conditions and become of real value to the public were 
thrown out of office simply because of their affiliations with a cer¬ 
tain political party. Now in the government service we are abso¬ 
lutely free from politics as far as our road work is concerned, and 
I think that Mr. Wales, who represents the United States Civil 
Service here, will tell you that there are few of our engineers who 
would take the positions they do, at the salaries the government 
pays, unless they were assured that we were free from politics. We 
have this afternoon the cooperation of the United States Civil 
Service Reform League which has done so much to apply the merit 
system to public service work. There is no branch of public serv¬ 
ice work where we need the cooperation of the Civil Service Reform 
League more than in the work of bettering our roads, and it is my 
great pleasure to introduce Mr. Richard Henry Dana, President of 
the National Civil Service Reform League, who will preside this 
afternoon. 

Mr. Dana takes the Chair. 

The Chairman: Mr. President , fellow citizens and members of the 
Congress: The subject of my address this afternoon is how to take 
the roads out of politics. 


HOW TO TAKE THE ROADS OUT OF POLITICS 

By Richard Henry Dana 
President, National Civil Service Reform League 

The chief motive that impelled civil service reformers to devote 
their energies to the adoption of the competitive merit system for 
government appointments was to diminish the power of the political 
boss by taking out of his hands the unrestricted patronage of ap¬ 
pointive office. The so-called “spoils” system was not only inju¬ 
rious to the efficiency of the government but it created an army of 
political workers, thus building up an enormous political “machine,” 
active in politics all the year round and often opposing the interests 
and wishes of the people at large. Before such an army of trained, 
disciplined, well-generaled party workers, paid out of government 
funds, the ordinary citizen was as helpless as a mob in the face of 
a regular army. 

What about the size of this army? Altogether, counting the fed¬ 
eral service and that of all other branches of government—city, 
county and State—within the United States, the total number of 


82 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


persons is over 800,000 and the total salary something like $700,- 
000,000 a year. But for civil service reform this would all be an 
enormous political standing army, and this stupendous annual sum 
of money would be all used to influence primaries, caucuses, con¬ 
ventions and even elections. Hardly more than one-third of this 
army and salary is controlled by civil service rules and laws. The 
rest is in politics. 

The improvement of the civil service was at least in the earlier 
days considered more as a by-product than as the main purpose of 
the reform. This by-product has become more and more important 
as we have advanced. It has been proved officially again and again 
that the government work is far better done by fewer people when 
under the competitive merit system than before; for example, in 
the railway mail service, where careful records are kept, since it 
has been put under the civil service system more work is done per 
capita at more than three times the accuracy of the best record ever 
made before, and five times some of the others. It has also been 
officially computed that the saving in the federal service alone is 
about $20,000,000 a year. 

During the first fifteen years of the merit system it was applied 
mainly to subordinate positions, such as clerkships, policemen, fire¬ 
men, bookkeepers and the like, omitting the laborers at one end and 
the higher officials at the other. We have been very slow in extend¬ 
ing the system upward. We have extended it sideways so that 
now we have civil service laws in 9 States and about 250 munici¬ 
palities; downward, unskilled laborers in the federal service and 
some cities are selected on a basis of age and relative physical con¬ 
dition so that the laborers are taken out of politics and the public 
gets young, active and able bodied men. As to its extension up¬ 
ward, we have made considerable progress as I shall explain more 
fully further on, but for the present all postmasters with salaries 
over $1000 a year, all collectors of internal revenue and their deputies, 
all collectors of the customs and United States marshals, for example, 
are outside the civil service rules, and the same principle applies 
in the main to the civil service of those cities and states that have 
civil service laws. As a result, while we secure better subordinates 
the head positions, in which the brains ought to be, are usually 
filled by persons without proper education, training or experience. 
This is not all. The more capable subordinates finding that pro¬ 
motion to these higher places is shut off from them soon get dis¬ 
couraged and resign from the public service. 

Still further, while the boss has been deprived of a large amount 
of his patronage, he still keeps the best paid offices and, through 
his power over the heads of city departments and other high officials, 
is still able to give contracts, jobs, and the furnishing of supplies 
to political favorites. 

It is now one of the objects of the Civil Service Reform League 
to arouse public opinion so as to compel Congress to allow the higher 


HOW TO TAKE THE ROADS OUT OF POLITICS 83 

postmasters, the collectors, and the like, to be put in the classified 
civil service, so that such places may be filled by promotion and in 
general to extend the law upward and thus to take contracts out of 
politics. 

I shall now come to the application of the general principles of 
the reform to the experts in road construction. 

What is the condition of road construction as we see it within 
the United States? Is there not a great proportion of the work in 
the control of incompetent persons? Even where good road experts 
are employed is there not constant interference by their superiors 
to give contracts as political favors, to enforce too rigidly or not 
enforce at all the specifications for political reasons, and to do super¬ 
ficial work about election time to deceive the people into thinking 
that a good job has been done at small cost? 

Let me state some of the advantages that come from the employ¬ 
ment of experts in road construction. It will save waste from poor 
plans, poor methods, use of the wrong materials, improper or in¬ 
sufficient sub-drainage, or surface drainage, insufficient foundation, 
waste in the supervision of labor, loss from insufficient specifications 
and from failure to enforce good ones properly, the lack of proper 
super-elevation at curves, causing great wear both on the road-bed 
and the tires; and the employment of incompetent laborers employed 
to give influential voters, or friends of active politicians a job at 
the expense of the public at high pay; and the inability to get a 
day’s work for a day’s pay from those otherwise competent men 
who know that they hold their job not for what they do in road 
building, but through the political influence of the party boss behind 
the throne of the road authorities. 

The experts, especially the chief experts, hold their office as a rule, 
do they not, at the pleasure of political superiors or of superiors 
who themselves, though not active politicians, may be removed for 
party reasons or are themselves elected officials who look for a re- 
election which may depend more upon satisfying a political boss 
or packing a primary than upon securing good roads for the public, 
and is it not also too often true that the position of the expert is 
needed to carry out some party plan or complete a factional slate? 
At all events, the employment is so apt to be temporary and the 
changes are so often made even when good experts are employed, 
that continuity of policy is not carried out. Fear of removal and 
the desire to help those who have given the appointment tends to 
bring the expert into politics. No permanent career can be offered 
to younger men who enter from the lower grades of expert work; 
no hope of promotion to the upper, and as a rule it is hard to get 
the men of the best ability to leave well-established work with 
private persons or corporations, for the uncertain and sometimes 
distasteful work of public employment. It sounds more funny than 
fiction when we read the truth from this year’s report of James W. 
Osborne, Special Commissioner to investigate the New York State 


84 


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Highway Department, that the inspectors to pass on contract work 
were some of them barbers, tailors, prize fighters, bartenders and 
bakers, and, as might be supposed, that their inspection “was totally 
inadequate.” 

But even supposing that the experts from top to bottom are 
appointed absolutely free from political favoritism of any sort and 
are men of good ability, their powers are limited. To be sure, some 
road commission for the time being, here and there, may be found 
that will not interfere with their experts, but as we have seen again 
and again, the experts are subject to the direction of the non-expert, 
political or semi-political boards, or elective officials, and have to 
submit to the superior authority which can put a joker into a con¬ 
tract; modify the specification; order poor work to be accepted, or 
good work to be refused on the payment or non-payment of political 
contributions, or the possession or non-possession of political influence. 

As an illustration we have the case of the New York State Road 
Construction, and nothing was more evident in the investigation 
than that in many cases the experts were entirely opposed to the 
action of their superior officers which they had no power to prevent, 
and it was contrary to official discipline to expose to the public the 
various methods that were used for giving contracts to influential 
politicians, or for securing political contributions at the threat of 
holding up pay for work done. 

But someone will say, if we leave road building wholly in the 
hands of experts with independent tenure of office, we are not hav¬ 
ing local self-government; we are interfering with the representatives 
of the people and choking off the expression of public policies. We 
must admit that if we should make our experts complete despots 
that there would be a great deal of truth in these objections. Can 
we not, however, find some line of demarcation between the two 
extremes? I think we can. The representatives of the people, the 
policy determining executive or board or legislative body should 
decide upon the general public policies as to the amount of appro¬ 
priations, just where good roads are to be built, as for example 
between which towns and cities, or what general principles of choice 
are to prevail, but, on the other hand, the powers of the experts 
should be supreme in the operative sphere as distinct from the policy 
determining. The operative sphere should include the full control 
of the preparing and awarding contracts and the enforcement of 
specifications; the control of labor; and the purchase of supplies, 
and everything else that is necessary for securing the best results 
at least cost to the community. The community should have a 
right to say how much they will be taxed and what it is they want 
done, but beyond that the community will get the best results, will 
they not, if it will leave to experts, selected without regard to politics 
and free from the danger of political removal or interference in any 
way, the carrying out of the details of the plans necessary to accom¬ 
plish the purposes the public have in mind. The experts too should 


HOW TO TAKE THE HOADS OUT OP POLITICS 


85 


be allowed freedom to advise and everf educate public opinion as 
to public policies within their specialties. 

We then have to consider the three chief points: first, the selection 
of experts which will secure from top to bottom experts of ability, 
experience, and character; second, tenure of office during capacity 
and good behavior and third, ample powers within the operative 
sphere. Now for the selection of the experts in any large public 
service devoted to road building. There should be a system of 
promotion from among the assistant engineers and other experts 
that would secure the highest positions when vacancies arise to those 
who have shown the best ability and achievements, and entrance 
to these lower positions should be through civil service examinations. 
Where there is not found among the subordinates anyone suitable 
for promotion or where the service is new, then it is necessary to 
go outside. And in such cases there ought to be freedom to select 
experts from all parts of the country, and an ample inquiry into 
the sufficiency of education, training, special ability, and the posses¬ 
sion of organizing and executive faculty among the candidates. Now 
how can this be done? The adoption of the Civil Service System 
would secure promotion but no open competitive examination com¬ 
posed of written questions and answers of the “ scholastic” kind would 
ever be suitable for the appointment of the chief experts in any 
such undertaking as modem road building on a large scale, but when 
I have said this it does not mean that the experts may not be still 
selected through civil service methods for the civil service methods 
are not confined , as too many persons take for granted, to the written 
scholastic examination conducted in the same room and at the same 
time, such as are used for the selection of clerks, bookkeepers, and 
the like. Every method known to business for the ascertaining of 
the relative ability of various candidates that is capable of being 
systematized, that is, every method excepting that of pure favoritism, 
can be and is employed by civil service commissions. Bench tests 
are used for selecting mechanics, physical competition for policemen 
and firemen; saddling, mounting, riding horses, and firing from horse¬ 
back have formed part of the civil service examination for United 
States rangers. For the last fifteen years men of high organizing 
and executive ability, power to handle subordinates and get on well 
with men, combined with appropriate scientific knowledge, have 
been secured for high governmental positions by what is called the 
“ unassembled investigation of careers” conducted by civil service 
commissions. Though this has been in operation for fifteen years, 
as I have just said, its existence is still unknown to many experts, 
statesmen, and I may say to the great majority of our citizens, and 
it is largely for explaining this method of selection and showing its 
applicability for the choice of experts in road building that this 
paper is written. Let me give an illustration. 

The office of librarian of the enormous library system of the city 
of Chicago became vacant. It was found that that position was 


86 


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classified under the civil service rules. The first idea was that an 
exception must be made and the appointment authorized at the 
discretion of the Mayor for the reason, as stated, that it would be 
impossible to fill the place satisfactorily by any “scholastic” exami¬ 
nation. The civil service commission and the civil service reformers 
of Chicago were well aware of this “unassembled investigation of 
careers” and how successful it had proved and they undertook to 
make the selection under the civil service rules. First of all adver¬ 
tisements were sent out over the country and especially to all the 
journals devoted to library work, and letters were sent to library 
experts to suggest candidates. It was explained that the examina¬ 
tion would not consist of the ordinary sets of questions and answers 
but that each candidate should reply from his own home or office 
to a detailed inquiry as to his education, training, and achieve¬ 
ments in life. Then three eminent librarians were chosen to aid 
the civil service commission in this investigation. The three chosen 
were Mr. Herbert Putnam of the Congressional Library, Wash'ng- 
ton, D. C., the head of the Crerar Library in Brooklyn, New York, 
and the librarian of the University of Chicago. These men aided 
the civil service commission and their chief examiner in drawing up 
the questions on the experience sheets sent to the various candi¬ 
dates. The candidates were also asked to send in any book, pam¬ 
phlet, or paper prepared by them on library administration or kindred 
subjects and to give the names of persons for whom they had worked, 
who would know of their successful administration. Then, after 
weeding out those who from their own statements were manifestly 
unfitted, there were sent to these former employers searching ques¬ 
tions which were answered in detail showing any facts tending to 
prove the possession by the candidate in question of executive and 
organizing ability, any unusually successful work accomplished, the 
possession of such temper and manners as would enable the candi¬ 
date to get on with other people, and the ability to handle subordi¬ 
nates to advantage. Each candidate was also asked to prepare a 
thesis on the management of the Chicago library system, and to 
aid him in understanding the situation he was furnished with the 
latest official reports of Chicago relating to the library and the 
municipal budget and resources. These theses were prepared at the 
homes or offices of the candidates and sent to the civil service com¬ 
mission. As a result of all this investigation and the examination 
of these records by this jury of three great experts, Mr. Laegler was 
put first. As the civil service records, thus prepared, showed, he 
had been librarian at the Wisconsin University; had there instituted 
some methods of library administration of such value that they 
were being copied by other libraries all over the country; had, when 
in another capacity, practically organized the splendid university 
extension work and public aid given by the University of Wisconsin; 
had gone before committees of the Legislature and explained his 
methods and secured appropriations; and had been able to train 


HOW TO TAKE THE ROADS OUT OF POLITICS 


87 


his subordinates so as to get the best possible results. Indeed, as 
Mr. Putnam said to me, there was no better man that could be 
found in the country not lready occupied in some better position. 
In some of the non-assembled investigations, the candidates are 
questioned orally by this expert examining board and further graded 
on personality. 

Now let me call your attention to one or two matters. Through 
this method there was secured what every appointing officer should 
secure, that is, a thorough investigation into the capacity of all the 
candidates, but a kind of investigation carried out with a degree of 
thoroughness that we know is not exercised by appointing officers 
even when they are free from any political motive and desire to 
secure the best results, not even by most business men or corpora¬ 
tions. Indeed, the art of appointing the best from a large number 
of persons for responsible positions is, by no means, as simple a one 
as many people suppose. Again, all the evidence on which the selec¬ 
tion is made is a matter of record, so that at any time the grounds 
of selection may be reviewed; an effective guaranty against favoritism, 
and the appointment is made without the appointee’s being under 
obligations to any party, party faction, or political boss; and finally 
when once appointed in this way the tenure of office is practically 
secure because the motive otherwise existing of removing an expert, 
namely, to give the appointment to a favorite, has disappeared, for 
the appointment of a successor must be made in the same way that 
the original selection was made, or else by promotion from a limited 
number of persons who have secured their positions by open com¬ 
petition. Then again, when the position is thus put under the civil 
service system and the tenure of office is secure, instead of keeping 
able men away, it is found by experience that it has attracted them. 
It has commonly been said that you can not get able men to enter 
the civil service examination, but in the words of the United States 
Civil Service Commission commenting on the results of such civil 
service investigations in its twenty-ninth report: 

Examinations of this character have been found to attract men of the 
highest type. A belief in many quarters that no distinguished expert or 
person of high professional or scientific attainments will compete in a civil 
service examination is a fallacy. 

This has also been the experience of municipal and State civil 
service commissions that have tried the system. 

At a hearing of the Legislature in Massachusetts on a bill to allow 
heads of departments to be selected in this manner, Professors 
Swaine and Sedge wick of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 
said that they usually advise their graduates not to accept public 
work, because it is so mixed with politics, but should these positions 
be put under the civil service system and carried out in the way 
above explained, they, on the contrary, would urge all their gradu¬ 
ates to enter this kind of public service. 


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Another objection has been made that there are not sufficient 
experts in the country to fill all the positions in the road construc¬ 
tion that is going on. However that may be, we can secure all 
the experts there are who are willing to undertake the work, and if 
one will just read the catalogs of the leading universities of the 
country, he will see that more and more time is given to the educa¬ 
tion of experts in all kinds of municipal and State undertakings, 
among which road building is one of the most commonly taught. 
The supply of young men who can be put in the lower grades of 
expert work and make their way up, through promotion, is very 
great. 

Some objection is raised, on what is really a priori and theoretical 
grounds, that experts with tenure during good behavior and capacity, 
would not accept new policies. In practical operation, exactly the 
opposite is found to be the case. Not only do such experts take 
kindly to new policies, but they are foremost in suggesting and 
urging them. The expert is far more well informed as to new devices 
adopted in any part of the civilized world and to weigh the merits 
of them, than the non-expert. 

I remember, not long ago, delivering an address before a club of 
business and professional men as to the application of the merit 
system to the selection of high-grade experts. I saw one prominent 
man before me with his face set in stern disapproval from the be¬ 
ginning. After the address, he made the remark that “it is absurd 
for anyone to suggest selecting men for such positions by a scholastic 
examination of questions and answers,” and wondered that “a man 
of my position should advocate it.” The truth was this gentleman 
had shut his mind up into idea-tight compartments, proof against 
the percolation of a new thought. It is this state of mind which 
prevents many people from examining into the civil service method 
which I have just now laid before you. 

But after all the best proof of the pudding is in the eating. If 
this were all a matter of theory which had never been tried before, 
or perhaps only in one or two instances, I should blame no man 
for considering it highly theoretical, just as old sea captains and river 
steam-boat navigators thought it was impracticable to cross the 
Atlantic Ocean in a vessel propelled by steam. Should any such 
captain continue so to think after the ocean had been crossed many 
times every year for fifteen years in succession with success and 
improved speed and economy, ought not that captain to be con¬ 
sidered antiquated indeed? So it is with anyone who doubts the 
applicability of the civil service system to the selection of engineers 
unless, indeed, he is absolutely ignorant of how often we have crossed 
the ocean of spoils politics in safety by the advanced methods of 
the merit system. 

The first position to which it was applied, about fifteen years 
ago, was that of the supervising architect of the United States, a 
position of the very greatest importance and high salary. Then it 


HOW TO TAKE THE ROADS OUT OF POLITICS 


89 


was successively applied to the selection of the heads of many of 
the Bureaus, especially those of the Agricultural Department, for 
which positions men of high scientific education in their specialties 
and executive and organizing ability were required, and the success 
with which these departments have been established and carried 
out is the best proof of the applicability of the system. Among 
other positions I may mention that of the head of the United States 
Bureau on Road Building and Road Materials. 

In the city of Los Angeles the enormous water supply that was 
to cost many millions was put into the hands of engineers selected 
in the ordinary way. The work was going to pieces, little was 
accomplished and an enormous amount of money had been wasted. 
Then the board in charge was re-organized and all the engineers 
from top to bottom were selected by the civil service system, and 
after that the work was accomplished rapidly, economically, without 
taint or fraud, and with the most complete success. 

Even assistants to the attorney-general at Washington and assist¬ 
ant solicitors and attorneys in States have been selected in this same 
way; also the chief engineer of the city of Chicago, engineer in charge 
of bridges, city auditor, the chief street engineer, the building in¬ 
spector in chief, and numerous other officials with salaries from 
$5000 to $8000 a year, and lately in Philadelphia the chief engineer 
and his assistants for the new subway development and other experts 
with salaries even as high as $10,000 a year, the heads of depart¬ 
ments, with one or two exceptions in Colorado, the secretaries and 
chief examiners of civil service commissions in several States have 
also been chosen by this same process. 

The division engineers in the State of New York who are required 
to have charge of the construction, re-construction, maintenance, 
and repair of State and county highways are now under the civil 
service system with the full approval of Commissioner Carlisle. 

In Kansas City the chief engineer, the assistant chief engineer, 
the superintendent of streets, and some other positions have been 
appointed through competition, and in New York City the chief 
engineer of the board of estimate and appointment is under the 
competitive merit system. 

Indeed, these are only some of the many examples which I could 
give you. In addition to that, I may quote Lieutenant James Reed, 
assistant director of the department of public works of Philadelphia, 
in a paper read at the last meeting of our National Civil Service 
Reform League. He not only commended this method of selection 
as having worked with perfect success, but he also showed and 
proved that by this method of the selection and retention of experts, 
the municipal contracts had been taken out of politics in Phila¬ 
delphia—that city long known as being under the domination of 
political contractors. 

Some objection has been made to the merit system because of an 
alleged difficulty in removing a classified employee. We claim that 


90 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


it is generally easier to remove for good cause under the merit, 
than under the spoils system. Under the spoils regime, an employee 
put in by political influence often could not be removed by his 
official superior even for drunkenness and insubordination. The 
superior who tried to remove him would usually find him re-instated, 
or his own official head in danger of coming off. It was easy enough 
to remove after a change of party or party faction—too easy for 
both good and bad were turned out. It is only in the New York 
City police force that removals for cause are difficult. There, 
against the opposition of the National League and the New York 
Civil Service Reform Association, an appeal to the courts with a 
complete revision was allowed, but elsewhere the usual rule requires 
only a statement of the reasons for removal in reasonable detail 
to be given the employee, with a chance to answer in writing, just 
to avoid removal under a mistake as to the facts, but the appointing 
officer has the final power. 

Fixing of the powers of these experts is a matter of legislation 
and not of civil service reform, but at the same time, the selection 
and retention by the civil service method will give them such inde¬ 
pendence of position, such freedom from any question as to how the 
next election is going, and such absence of control by politicians 
that any powers granted to them by law can be exercised with an 
amount of independence which would be impossible without the 
tenure that the civil service system gives them. 

It is true that some of the experts in German cities, in the city 
of Paris, and in the cities of Great Britain are not strictly under 
civil service rules, but they are under restricted methods of selec¬ 
tion, partly from custom and partly by statute law very closely 
allied to the system that I have just explained, based on competition 
and the possession of education and experience that produces prac¬ 
tically the same results by methods which are first cousins to the 
civil service system, and I need hardly say how vastly better and 
more efficient is municipal administration in those municipalities in 
which all the operative work is in the control of these prominent, 
highly trained, and efficient experts. 

In the national government of Great Britain all the experts of 
that board that has control of municipalities called the “Local Gov¬ 
ernment Board,” and the permanent heads of all the great national 
departments, such as the treasury, postoffice, foreign affairs, and 
the like are strictly under the competitive civil service rules. 

It is important that the civil service commissions should them¬ 
selves be free from political considerations. Besides having their 
chief examiners, secretaries, and other subordinates under civil 
service rules, the plan of having the civil service commissioners 
appointed for long tenure, say six years, with overlapping terms is 
recommended and in some cases already adopted. 

Lastly, may not the plan of having all the governmental work 
in the control of high-grade experts, free from politics, be the final 


SOUND ADMINISTRATION OF PUBLIC SERVICE 


91 


solution for securing efficiency and economy in public undertakings? 
May it not be the anti-toxin for public waste and corruption? May 
not the great success of the United States army engineers in the 
harbor and river work and in the Panama Canal be because these 
army engineers are so free from political pressure and have so 
secure a tenure of office, rather than because they are superior as 
individuals to the civil engineers of our country? 

If there be any truth in these ideas, is this not a cause well worth 
promoting with all our influence, patriotism, and enthusiasm, not 
only in road building but in all other governmental enterprises? 

SUMMARY 

For fifteen years civil and sanitary engineers, architects, physicians, 
superintendents of streets, chief librarians, heads of bureaus, etc., 
men of scientific or special training and executive and organizing 
ability and high professional standing have been obtained through 
the civil service examinations. This is possible because those “ ex¬ 
aminations” consist, not of the scholastic questions and answers 
used for clerks, but of inquiry addressed to the candidates and to 
those who have employed them as to what education, training and 
experience they have had, their achievements in life and manifes¬ 
tations of executive and organizing ability and power to get on with 
and handle men. This inquiry is conducted by the aid of appro¬ 
priate specialists of high reputation. To the inquiry is added a 
thesis on the conduct of the work to be done and sometimes an 
oral interview to ascertain personality. Such up-to-date methods 
form the clue for “taking the roads out of politics.” 

The Chairman : The next paper will be on “ The Sound Adminis¬ 
tration of Public Service,” by the Chief Examiner of the United 
States Civil Service Commission, whose actions we, as a league, 
have watched and have never once found fault with him, but he 
has secured our admiration as a man who is constantly pressing 
forward new ideas for the benefit of the public system. I take 
pleasure in introducing Mr. George R. Wales. 


SOUND ADMINISTRATION OF PUBLIC SERVICE 

By George R. Wales 

Chief Examiner , U. S. Civil Service Commission 

Any mention of the subject of road building brings to my mind 
recollections of boyhood days on a farm in Vermont. There we 
had in operation a system of road building which was an excellent 
example of the way not to do it. It was supposed to be a system 
of road construction, but it was actually a system of road destruc¬ 
tion. I am told that this system, with slight modifications accord- 


92 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


ing to locality, is still is vogue in many parts of the country. Doubt¬ 
less you are familiar with it. A road tax was levied against each 
farmer, and he had the privilege of paying the tax in cash or of work¬ 
ing it out on the roads. Cash being scarce, and time plentiful, the 
farmers unanimously decided to work out, rather than pay up. So 
a day was set aside for a road building bee. But it was a day of 
celebration and jollification instead of a day of hard labor for the 
public good. It was a holiday set aside to celebrate the highways. 
Like Thanksgiving and Christmas and the Fourth of July, it was a 
day of joy and good fellowship. Everybody had a glorious time 
and the road taxes were charged off the books. 

But there were a few zealous, well-meaning souls, who were con¬ 
scientious in their performance of their public duty and who felt 
that the other taxpayers were only cheating themselves by failing 
to give an honest day’s work. These faithful ones brought forth 
their teams and, with plow and harrow and scraper, diligently fixed 
the roads. Oh yes, they fixed them. They fixed them so that the 
mud in wet weather and the ruts in dry weather were deeper and 
more plentiful then before. 

No argument is needed to convince the members of this Congress 
that road construction should be placed in the hands of trained and 
competent men. There was a period in the history of our country 
when it was necessary that the settlers and farmers should build 
their own roads on which to haul their produce to market. In 
those days farmers and their wives were obliged to do many things 
which they can now have done for them in an infinitely better and 
more economical way. 

There is another system of road construction which is, to say the 
least, equally as inefficient and much more extravagant than the 
one whereby the farmers build the roads for themselves. I refer 
to a system whereby road construction is made the prey of political 
favoritism, either local, county or State. We cannot have good roads, 
constructed and maintained economically, if their construction and 
maintenance are to be influenced by political expediency. The work 
must be divorced absolutely from political considerations and put 
upon a business-like basis of efficiency. 

I am told that with the exception of two or three States the work 
of road construction and maintenance in this country is being 
parceled out, not to those who have the ability to perform it properly, 
but to those who have the ability to control a few votes. One of 
our leading periodicals recently characterized this system as a species 
of graft. Perhaps a more precise term would be highway robbery— 
the system robs the people of their highways and their money at 
the same time. 

A plan has been proposed by members of this body whereby each 
State may take its road building operations out of politics and place 
them under a proper system of administration—an administration 
which will insure to the people one hundred cents’ worth of road- 


SOUND ADMINISTRATION OF PUBLIC SERVICE 


93 


way for every dollar expended in taxation; an administration which 
will place the building of the roads in the hands of technically trained 
experts who have made this science their life work; an administra¬ 
tion which will enable the people to realize all those great benefits 
in education, prosperity, and improved country life that will result 
from an adequate system of modern highways. Briefly, the plan is 
for each State to place general supervision of its roads in a non- 
partisan board, that is, a bi-partisan board and hence non-partisan 
in its action, under whom there shall be a State highway engineer 
with assistants and a highway engineer in each county, or a group 
of counties when a single county cannot afford to have an engineer, 
all of these engineers, from the State highway engineer down to the 
county engineer, to be appointed from those graded highest in a 
competitive examination testing the qualifications of all applicants 
for the places, and all of them to hold office during good behavior 
and efficient work. 

A little over thirty years ago the national government established 
a system of competitive examinations for filling appointive offices. 
Before that time appointments were based almost entirely upon 
political considerations, ability to do the work being a secondary 
consideration. Upon a change of the party in power it was the 
practice to turn out those in office, whether or not they had in their 
period of tenure learned to do the work, and to put in their places 
a new lot of incompetents. The people tired of this farce and 
demanded that competition for appointment should be upon the 
basis of ability to do the work, instead of the ability to get votes. 
I do not wish to be understood as claiming that every individual 
appointed under the patronage system was incompetent. There 
were just enough exceptions to prove the rule. Spurred by a mighty 
insistence from the people, Congress enacted a law, calling it “An 
Act to improve the civil service of the United States.” It provided 
that appointments should be made according to grade from among 
those graded highest as the result of open competitive examinations, 
and that the examinations should be practical in their character, 
designed to test the capacity and fitness of applicants to perform 
the duties of the positions to which they sought to. be appointed. 

At first the competitive examination system was applied only to 
a comparatively few positions, mostly of a clerical character, num¬ 
bering less than 14,000. But the law gave the President power to 
extend its operations to other positions, and from time to time the 
Presidents have extended it, so that now it covers almost all the 
positions in the executive branch of the government to which 
appointments are made without the advice and consent of the 
Senate. The extensions have not been confined, however, to presi¬ 
dential action, for growth in the government business and extension 
of its operations and investigations to new fields have gradually 
increased the number of persons who hold office under the com¬ 
petitive system in the service of the United States. At the present 


94 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


time approximately 300,000 positions are classified under the national 
civil service law. 

It seems to me that this growth in a period of about thirty- 1 wo 
years is alone sufficient proof of the efficiency and absolute success 
of the system. We have, however, the direct testimony of men 
who have been in position to know the facts—those responsible for 
getting out the work—that efficiency has taken the place of ineffi¬ 
ciency, and economy has taken the place of extravagance, wherever 
this system has been applied; that the volume and accuracy of the 
work done by each employee have increased amazingly. We know 
from the records showing the number of pieces of mail handled by 
each employee of the railway mail service that in that one branch 
of the government’s work the competitive system is saving to the 
taxpayers several millions of dollars annually and at the same time 
handling the mail with a marvelous increase of accuracy. To be 
more exact, the figures show that each employee is doing 20 per 
cent more work than under the old system and doing it with one- 
third the number of errors. Again, and as further proof of the 
success of the competitive examination system, it is found that in 
those parts of the service where efficiency ratings have been made, 
there is an almost exact ratio between such ratings and the ratings 
received by the employees in the examinations through which they 
were appointed. 

It is not my claim that the operation of the civil service law is, 
by any means, absolutely perfect. The law was humanly devised 
and is humanly executed. I do not believe the civil service system 
has a little millenium of it own which it has reached or will soon 
reach; but the law will compare most favorably with any other 
federal statutes in its shortcomings, which are rapidly lessening with 
the increase of public confidence in the sincerity and efficiency of 
its administration. It has seemed to me that some of the friends 
of the civil service law have had a mistaken attitude toward its 
operation and administration in respect to violations of the law. 
Utter amazement and discouragement is evinced by some person 
at a single violation of the civil service law, when frequent violations 
of other statutes are regarded with complete equanimity and indul¬ 
gence and are taken as a matter of course. 

Some years ago a clergyman, who happened to be also a very 
impractical man, came into the office of one of our commissioners 
showing great excitement and perturbation and exclaimed, “Mr. 
Commissioner, I find that your civil service law is actually being 
violated; you are actually not preventing violations of it.” 

The Commissioner glanced at the clergyman’s card and replied, 
“I see by your card that you are a clergyman. Let me ask you a 
question. How are you getting along these days in enforcing the 
law of Moses; any violations?” 

But I wish especially to call your attention to the development 
of the competitive examination method of appointment to profes- 


SOUND ADMINISTRATION OF PUBLIC SERVICE 


95 


sional and technical positions, positions of responsibility paying up 
to practically $5,000 a year—in other words, that class of positions 
comparable to the kind required for efficient highway administra¬ 
tion. It was not until 1896 that any considerable number of such 
positions were brought under the system, and even at that time the 
number was small as compared with the number and variety of such 
positions now included within the operation of the law. It has been 
claimed that the success of the competitive system as applied to 
professional, scientific, and technical positions has made possible the 
great extensions which the government has made in recent years 
in scientific experimentation and investigations for the public wel¬ 
fare. However that may be, the increased activities of the govern¬ 
ment in these lines have necessitated the application of correct 
principles of competitive examinations for such positions in order 
to insure the success of this system of appointment The Civil 
Service Commission has simply been careful to apply common sense 
business principles to its methods of examination If a position of 
a technical character requires a man with technical training without 
much, if any, additional experience, the examination has been opened 
to those who have had the required technical training, and they 
have been given written tests in the subjects with which they should 
be familiar in order properly to perform their duties If the posi¬ 
tion requires a man who, in addition to a technical education, has 
achieved distinction and has become eminent in the line of his 
profession and who perhaps has specialized in some branch of his 
profession—one competent to devise, lay out and manage the work— 
then the examination has been so constructed as to bring men of 
that character to the head of the eligible list. An examination 
consisting of questions and answers on technical subjects would not 
be likely to determine the relative fitness of applicants for such a 
position; moreover, men qualified for such a position could not be 
expected to enter into an examination of that kind Therefore, for 
these high grade positions where men of experience and attainments 
are needed, an examination is given which does not require the 
competitors to assemble at any place or to answer technical ques¬ 
tions. They are called upon to furnish, under oath, a detailed 
statement of their education and experience, including all the work 
they have done since graduation. They may also be asked to submit 
an original thesis or published works, and they are required to give 
the names of persons able and competent to testify as to their experi¬ 
ence and personal fitness. Confidential inquiry is made by the Com¬ 
mission from various sources as well as of all persons referred to by 
the applicant. Gratifyingly accurate and discriminating testimony 
is obtained by this means of confidential communication. Such 
testimony approximates, if not equals, the testimony adduced upon 
cross-examination in judicial proceedings. The Commission has on 
its force of examiners men skilled in the weighing of evidence of 
this kind. It has a corps of expert examiners who are eminent and 


96 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


leading authorities in their respective lines, whose services may be 
called in when needed. With such means it is not difficult to place 
upon the history of the career and accomplishments of each appli¬ 
cant a percentage rating which is an accurate measure of his relative 
fitness to perform the work to be done. 

A demonstration of the ability of the competitive system to obtain 
high class men for technical positions has been made within the past 
year, in connection with the employment of men to appraise the 
value of the property of common carriers in the United States. For 
this work the Interstate Commerce Commission required men with 
qualifications ranging all the way from rodman and chainman to 
the senior positions in civil, mechanical, structural, electrical and 
architectural engineering, as well as motive power men and expert 
accountants. There have been approximately 15,000 applicants for 
these positions, and the task of sifting the wheat from the chaff 
and of grading the wheat after the sifting was one of considerable 
magnitude; but it was done, and it was done so well that the Inter¬ 
state Commerce Commission expressed its gratification to find that 
it could secure a force so well equipped to perform the gigantic task 
of obtaining an accurate appraisal of the value of common carrier 
property. A system which can successfully secure a competent 
force of high grade engineers for this valuation work could surely 
provide the proper kind of men to have charge of the construction 
and maintenance of public highways. 

A large number of other instances could be cited, demonstrating 
the absolute success of the competitive examination system when 
applied to highly expert and technical positions. Among such 
positions are, assistant director of the Office of Public Roads, senior 
highway engineer, assistant in road economics, petroleum engineer, 
chemical engineer, mineral technologist, chief metallurgist in the 
Bureau of Mines, associate physicist in the Bureau of Standards, 
professor of chemistry and professor of pharmacology in the Public 
Health Service, assistant chief of the Bureau of Chemistry in the 
Department of Agriculture, chief irrigation engineer for the Indian 
Service, experts in the Children’s Bureau, and many others, all 
ranging in compensation up to $4,800. 

The competitive system has grown in States and cities as well 
as in the national government. It has grown in the extent of its 
operations and in popular favor as well, and it is constantly gaining 
friends as the people come more and more to understand its prin¬ 
ciples and to apprecite its benefits. It has now become so strongly 
entrenched behind public sentiment that partisan administrative 
officers are afraid to admit that any changes they may make are 
influenced by political considerations, and are careful to claim at 
least that all such changes are for the purpose of improving the 
efficiency of their officers. Wherever the adoption of the competi¬ 
tive system has been submitted to a referendum vote, it has come 
out victorious. 


PROCEEDINGS 


97 


The States of New York and Massachusetts were among the 
earliest to adopt the system for appointment to State and county 
offices. New Jersey has, within recent years, put it into operation 
in much the same comprehensive way that it has been established 
in Massachusetts and New York. These three States, I am told, 
are leaders in highway administration and they can be taken as 
examples of what the competitive examination system will do for 
the good roads movement. 

This great organization of representative men from all parts of 
our country can do much toward increasing the popular under¬ 
standing of what the competitive system is and what it accom¬ 
plishes. That there is a need for a still wider popular knowledge 
of it is shown by the need for its application to the good roads move¬ 
ment in the States where it has not been applied. 

In its beginning the competitive examination system was largely, 
if not entirely, a system of entry to public employment, coupled a 
little later with tenure during good service and good behavior. 
Latterly it is broadening definitely into a system of administration. 
A civil service commission today might more properly be designated 
a department of administration. Only through the administration 
of a civil service commission is it possible to have the most efficient 
and economical management of all the various departments and 
branches of the public service. It is essential, however, that the 
conception of public positions as patronage be displaced by recog¬ 
nition of the fact that public business at all times is the business of 
all the people. Public positions should be held in trust for all the 
people. With this purpose the competitive examination system is 
particularly in harmony, for it opens the door of the public service 
to the competent and worthy and closes it effectually in the faces 
of the unfit and the unworthy. This system is needed wherever 
public business is to be done. 

The Chairman: Gentlemen, I noticed in the discussion this 
morning something was said about the power of removal, and a 
good many people who, sometimes from political motives and 
sometimes from ignorance, have tried to make out that it is im¬ 
possible or hard to remove a man from the civil service that is 
classified under its rules. Let me state that experience has shown 
that it is easy to remove a man for good cause under civil service 
rules. Those of us who have watched the civil service for years back 
have seen many instances of persons who have been dismissed by 
the official in charge for drunkenness and insubordination, for ex¬ 
ample, and had that person put back again by some political superior, 
so that the man directly in charge of him no longer had any con¬ 
trol over his actions. Under the civil service system, all that is 
required in the national service and as far as the national league 
has ever approved of, has been that the party to be removed be 
furnished with the reasons in writing, sufficiently explicit for him ot 


98 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


understand them, and be given an opportunity to reply in writing, 
with the appointing officer in the end making the final decision, 
merely to prevent the head officer making the removal from acting 
under some misstatement or misinformation. We will now pass 
to the next paper, “The Applicability of the Merit System to the 
Engineering Service,” and may I state that the reader of this paper 
is now the Chief Examiner of Philadelphia and was appointed as the 
result of this very kind of competitive examination. He had been 
the Chief Examiner of Kansas City and his record showed such 
splendid work that he stood at the head of the eligible list, and ex¬ 
emplifies today an expert receiving his position by strict compe¬ 
tition. He is one of the best chief examiners that we have in any 
of our municipalities—Mr. Arthur M. Swanson. 


THE ADAPTABILITY OF THE MERIT SYSTEM TO THE 
ENGINEERING SERVICE 

By Arthur M. Swanson 

Chief Examiner of the Philadelphia Civil Service Commission 

It would, no doubt, be interesting to you men who are practical 
road builders to know how we choose our laborers and skilled laborers 
for work on streets by the merit system. Take common laborers: 
We receive applications at any time, then when there is a need for 
more laborers on the street we notify perhaps a thousand men who 
have applied to appear in groups before the physicians who are on 
the staff of the civil service commission. They are given a sort of 
inspection by these physicians simply to see that they are able- 
bodied men, their lifting strength is tested, and their eyes, ears, 
heart and lungs are given a fairly close inspection. The physicians 
then group the men in four classes. The first class is marked 90, the 
second class 80, the third class 70, the fourth class, which would be 
the ineligibles, are marked 60. The appointing officers then are 
required to appoint these laborers in the exact order of their standing 
on the eligible list. Suppose we need pavers, for example, the 
applicants are taken to one of the yards of the Highway Bureau, 
usually to the yard where the bureau would like to have some paving 
done, and the applicant is supplied with the necessary materials 
and tools and a helper is required to pave for, perhaps, an hour or 
an hour and a half, and we have present a practical paving foreman 
from some private corporation to assist in passing judgment on the 
men. 

However, I wish to confine my remarks principally to examina¬ 
tions for engineering positions of a somewhat higher character and 
I shall take up and discuss two or three such positions. 

Chief Engineer, City Transit. This position pays $6,000. The 
incumbent has charge of all engineering work pertaining to the 


ADAPTABILITY OF THE MERIT SYSTEM 


99 


construction of the great subways and elevated lines now being 
undertaken by the city of Philadelphia. Our idea is that a written 
examination upon technical problems is unsuited to an engineering 
test of this grade. We believe in adopting as nearly as possible 
under the laws the method of selection which the head of a corpora¬ 
tion would probably use. Of course, public positions cannot be filled 
in altogether the same manner as private positions may be for the 
reason that every citizen has a right to compete for the public posi¬ 
tion if he desires to do so. We first selected an examining board 
composed of the assistant chief engineer of the Pennsylvania Rail¬ 
road, an engineering professor in the University of Pennsylvania, 
and a private consulting engineer. An announcement was then 
issued stating the character of the position, the type of man wanted, 
and the conditions of the test. These conditions were that the 
applicant should first submit a complete statement of training and 
experience, together with copies of any papers or books he had 
published. This statement of training and experience involved age, 
education, previous employments, work designed, supervised or 
constructed, membership in engineering societies, papers or lectures 
published and other pertinent information and professional or busi¬ 
ness references. All who received a rating of 70 per cent or more 
on that subject were admitted to the remainder of the test, which 
was an oral discussion of appropriate engineering topics with the 
examining board, after which a second mark was given. These 
two marks were averaged for the final standing of the competitor, 
60 per cent being allowed for training and experience and 40 per 
cent for the oral test. An engineer of excellent standing, who had 
previously designed some of Philadelphia’s noted public works, 
among them the famous Walnut Lane Bridge, was the successful 
competitor in this test and was appointed. There can be no doubt 
that successful professional men, including engineers, hesitate to 
submit to a civil service examination as that term is popularly 
understood. The word u examination” conjures up visions of cram¬ 
ming volumes, and puzzling queries upon text book theories. But 
the modern merit system is none of this. The effort nowadays is 
to devise a type of test that is adapted to the job to be filled and 
one that will attract successful engineers by the sheer fairness of the 
plan as well as repel the unsuccessful by the hopelessness of its 
miscarriage through their success. We feel that the test above 
described did measure up to the job and it produced a successful 
engineer. 

District Surveyor. This position pays $4000. The incumbent is 
in charge of all city planning within his district, including streets, 
sewers, parks, and all similar things. He is not necessarily an 
executive, but rather a technical man. Again we started by select¬ 
ing a board of special examiners similar to the one described above. 
They divided the examination into three parts, namely, experience 
30 per cent, thesis 40 per cent, oral interview 30 per cent. Only 


100 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


those who attained 70 per cent on each of the subjects of experience 
and thesis were admitted to the oral test. Applicants were not 
assembled at any time. The experience questions and the subject 
for the thesis were widely distributed among engineers and appli¬ 
cants were given about thirty days in which to prepare and file their 
work. This means that the candidate had at his disposal all his 
usual references and other equipment and made the test a matter 
of actual engineering practice. 

The subject for thesis is worthy of mention. It consisted of a 
contour map of a proposed addition to a city, with the following 
instructions: 

Prepare a development plan on tracing cloth, of the 126 acre tract “ Rock¬ 
land,” on which shall be shown the best arrangement of streets, as determined 
by a consideration of all the conditions given in these directions and other¬ 
wise expressed on the topographical print. 

Place upon the plan: (a) The street widths, (b) The two main dimensions 
of blocks as determined by scale, (c) Elevations of the intersections of center 
lines of all streets, and all points on center lines where there are important 
breaks in the grade, (d) Indicate the gradients, (e) The names of all streets, 
(f) Show lot divisions in each block indicating the principal dimensions, .(g) 
Number the blocks, (h) Indicate the water distribution system with kind 
and size of pipes, (i) Consider sewerage and storm drainage, (j) Show the 
drainage system or systems on the plan, give the sewer sizes and gradients 
and construction, (k) Indicate the paving or wearing surface for each street. 

Prepare a Report and Recommendations: (a) Showing and explaining the 
reasons for the proposed development, (b) The explanations to coyer the 
street and lot systems, (c) The sewer and water systems, explaining in some 
detail as to the sizes, gradients, street widths and locations, (d) Explain 
the maximum and minimum gradients of streets and sewers, (e) Explain the 
sewer depths, (f) Explain the selection and construction of the pavements 
recommended, (g) Explain the special features in the design that particu¬ 
larly add to its value. 

Conditions That May Influence the Development: Location—farming and graz¬ 
ing district; about one and a half miles from a busy town of 75,000 population. 
The next nearest town is the county seat. Nearest railroad station two miles 
on double track road. A few suburban streets are proposed for the area on 
the south side of the railroad opposite the easterly end of “Rockland.” Tw r o 
or three small houses are near the iron works, and about 400 feet south of the 
railroad. Iron works are about 200 feet south of the railroad, employing 200 
hands. Consider rainfall only on the area of the tract, at the rate of 6 
inches per hour for the first twenty minutes of cloudburst. Small springs on 
tract of no account for water supply. Nearest water is a mountain stream 
about 1500 feet south of the railroad, flowing about 200 cubic feet per minute, 
of a slightly turbid water. All the region about the tract is of a clayey soil. 
The area to the south of “Rockland” is mostly flat with a slight slope to the 
river; nearly open ground. 

Computations to be Performed as a Part of Thesis Work: Block “Norfolk”— 
Compute and indicate the dimensions of all the lot outlines to the nearest 
one hundredth of a foot, and all other dimensions needed to complete the 
calculations of the subdivision. Indicate all the courses and distances so 
that the block and lots can be correctly laid out in the field. Present the 
individual calculations for all the work in neat schedule form, so that the 
examining board can inspect readily. Place the results of the computations 
upon the print in black India ink. 

I might add that affidavits were, of course, required as to the 
originality of the plan and its execution. Eighteen engineers com- 


ADAPTABILITY OP THE MERIT SYSTEM 


101 


peted, of whom four were finally passed. It may be interesting to 
state also that the oral interview consisted largely of further expla¬ 
nation of the plans by the competitor and also a series of questions 
upon the ethics of engineering. I think we are often unmindful of 
the necessity that the ethical side of the situation be stressed by an 
examining board in the case of an important public position. The 
director of public works added his apparent approval to the test 
by appointing the first man on the eligible list. This illustrates 
what may be considered another successful adaptation of the merit 
system to the job to be filled. 

Draftsmen. Tests for the engineering service acquired a ques¬ 
tionable standing in the minds of many by their very insufficiency 
in former years. The records of our office show that not many 
years ago draftsmen, for example, were tested by such questions as 
“Name the tools a draftsmen uses,” “Define Plane Trigonometry,” 
and similar queries. But there has been a development. Our 
method today is as follows: We give two days to the test. The 
first day is devoted to computations upon a chosen set of facts or 
data of an intensely practical kind. At the close of the day’s work 
the applicant is required to place his results on a separate sheet. 
He is furnished with all the necessary hand books and tables and 
permitted to use slide rules for checking purposes. So far as possi¬ 
ble no man in the engineering service, be he chainman, rodman, 
draftsman or engineer, should be given a test without access to all 
the usual equipment of his profession. If an examiner can’t test 
a man without searching him and imprisoning him through the 
ordeal, he isn’t equal to his job. The next day the applicant is 
required to bring his instruments. His tabulation of results is re¬ 
turned to him. We provide drawing tables, boards and papers and 
he is instructed to prepare a finished drawing from his results. Surely 
this will not be classed as a theoretical “examination.” It is simply 
two days of the life of the ordinary draftsman taken as a standard 
for measuring his capabilities and this is not a bad conception of 
civil service tests today. 

Age and Education. We hear much criticism leveled at the merit 
system to the effect that nobody but a college professor or a young 
man fresh from school can pass the tests that are given. The facts 
do not support the claim. We have taken a given year and tabu¬ 
lated the facts including all engineering tests from chainman to 
chief engineer. Of those passing, 28 per cent had a college educa¬ 
tion, 34 per cent had a high school education while 38 per cent had 
only common school training. At the same time, of those failing 
20 per cent had college education, 23 per cent had high school train¬ 
ing, and 57 per cent had only common school education. In fact, 
the man who made the highest average and was appointed to the 
highest engineering position for which I have ever supervised a test, 
had been denied even a high school training. In the test for district 
surveyor described above, the average age of those passing was 40 


102 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


and of those failing 42. All of the four men who passed that test 
had a college training, while of the fourteen who failed nine had 
college education. A close study of these and other statistics will 
show that as a rule there are very seldom any unnatural results in 
this regard. Thus the merit system establishes its intense practi¬ 
cability in that it does not operate to the detriment of the mature 
and practical man and the undue advantage of the young and the 
theoretical. 

The Merit System a Necessity. Three years ago the highway bureau 
of Philadelphia expending and supervising millions of dollars of 
public work annually had hardly a single actual engineer in its 
employ. Even the highway inspectors were very seldom men of even 
the slightest engineering experience or training. Civil engineering 
training and experience is now made an absolute requirement for 
this position by the civil service commission. Today the bureau 
has 20 engineers. It has also 160 engineering inspectors and high¬ 
way inspectors, of whom about 140 are civil engineers by both 
education and experience, those lacking such training being hold¬ 
overs. And every one of them from the chief at $6000 a year down 
the line is a product of the merit system of civil service. To thus 
transform a bureau requires that the department of public works 
take the initiative by creating a change in the type of service wanted, 
but the merit system has delivered the goods and thus played an 
important part in creating a field in Philadelphia for highway engi¬ 
neers, and, when necessary, we have gone outside the city to find 
the right men. Let me say that the question of residence should 
never be permitted to prevent a city from securing the highest 
degree of service. What you need is to build up a body of trained 
road builders in this country and you can’t do it so long as local 
residence is a requirement for public service. I do not know of 
any way by which a technical service can so satisfactorily be created 
and maintained in public service other than through the merit 
system intelligently applied to each job to be filled. 

New Developments. As a further proof of our own conviction that 
the merit system is practical, let me state that we publish every one 
of the questions after the examination is completed. This is done 
for a threefold reason: It is a scheme of education, it is convincing 
proof of fairness, and it compels the examiners to keep abreast of 
the great progress being made in the varied branches of engineering 
and on the alert for new questions and new tests. Perhaps the thing 
that would do more to convince this Congress of the adaptability 
of the merit system than all the addresses that we can deliver would 
be to read these questions in full. If there is any interested person 
who will write me, I will send him a copy of every question asked 
during 1912 or 1913. Not only that, but we keep every applicant’s 
examination papers open for public inspection with the marks of 
the examiners thereon at any time after the results are published. 
The examining department has a library of the latest and best prac- 


ADAPTABILITY OF THE MERIT SYSTEM 


103 


tical reference works on engineering that can be had and subscribes 
for and reads the best engineering periodicals. It does not purchase 
books of stale questions with cut and dried answers. The engineer¬ 
ing examiners are university graduates with considerable practical 
experience. I mention these apparently unrelated items merely to 
show that modern civil service administrators are alive to their 
duties and are keeping up with the progress of the engineering 
profession. 

The developments in the methods of the merit system in recent 
years have been nothing short of remarkable. Especially is this 
true when we consider the difficulties under which the system has 
labored and advanced. Let me suggest that the necessity of arguing 
here today the adaptability of the merit system to the engineering 
service does not arise from any errors in the principles upon which 
it is based, but rather from the way in which it has been handled 
from financial and administrative standpoints. Small wonder is it 
that its adaptability should be questioned when we recall that 
large cities pay higher salaries for court criers and writ servers than 
for engineering examiners who must prepare the tests and rate the 
qualifications of engineers for the public service. Fortunately, there 
are everywhere eminent engineers who recognize the value of the 
merit method of selection, and w T ho, therefore, give their time and 
ability free of charge as special examiners. And when we add to 
this the frequent setbacks it has received under unsympathetic 
administrations, particularly in States and municipalities, we have 
an idea of its struggle for a permanent place in the plan of govern¬ 
ment. That it has survived and prospered under such conditions 
is the strongest proof of the correctness of the idea. 

Creating a New Engineering Department. But the greatest test 
of the adaptability of the merit system does not come in the filling 
of individual positions, but comes rather when a department com¬ 
posed of only engineering positions is suddenly created by the legis¬ 
lative body and the responsibility for immediately filling those posi¬ 
tions to satisfy an insistent public demand for action is put squarely 
up to the merit system. This has occurred recently in Philadelphia, 
and never did the merit system of civil service show itself to greater 
advantage. 

The department of city transit was created a little more than a 
year ago by the act of the Legislature. It was created to supervise 
and control the construction and operation of great subways and 
connecting elevated lines to be municipally built and owned. A 
complete staff of about 140 engineers, draftsmen, transitmen, rod- 
men and chainmen had to be selected, and the character of their 
work was such that no existing eligible lists could be used. In other 
words, the merit system was called upon to produce a new engineer¬ 
ing department for a new line of municipal activity at once. Exami¬ 
nations were immediately announced, the duties of the various posi¬ 
tions stated, and the desired qualifications fixed. The number of 


104 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


applicants was large, but first class engineers in private business 
willingly gave their services as examiners, and to make a long story 
short, there was never a time since the creation of that department 
when the civil service commission was not able to fill all requisitions 
for appointments. Although the director is allowed by law the 
selection of one name out of four, it is a testimonial to the effective¬ 
ness of the merit system that he chose his men almost invariably in 
the exact order of their standing on the eligible list. There were 
thus selected and appointed in that department within a short space 
of time sixteen engineers, whose annual salaries range from $1,500 
to $6,000, aild forty-two draftsmen, whose annual salaries range 
from $1,000 to $2,700 besides a number of checkers, rodmen, chain- 
men and tracers. As a matter of fact, this new department, created 
from top to bottom through the merit system, is perhaps, today 
the best equipped and best organized engineering bureau in the city 
of Philadelphia. We may spend many millions for subways and 
elevated lines but we have taken the precaution to lay the founda¬ 
tion for the supervision of that expenditure in the merit system. 

The Appointing Officer’s View. Perhaps it might be interesting 
to illustrate what the appointing officers think about the efficiency 
of the merit system of tests as indicated by their appointments 
from lists. Take, for example, highway inspectors. In a little more 
than the past year 114 eligibles have been certified to the bureau of 
highways as highway inspectors. Under the law the chief is not 
required to appoint more than four out of each seven. As a matter 
of fact, out of 114 names he has appointed 98, although the law would 
compel him to appoint only 56. And the first man has been ap¬ 
pointed on every list but one. In appointing 35 draftsmen the 
chief of the Bureau of Surveys has passed over only nine names, 
when he could have passed over several times that number without 
violating the law. In a little more than a year nine eligible lists 
have been created for highway engineers at various salaries from 
$1,500 to $4,000 a year. In eight of the nine cases the Bureau,of 
Highways has appointed the first man on the list. Not only that, 
but in one case, for example, they have appointed eight out of the 
first nine on a list. These bureau chiefs were thus by no means 
taking advantage of that provisions of the law which enables them 
to pass over three names out of every seven, and it must be borne 
in mind that they are not making their appointments practically 
straight down the lists in order to glorify the civil service system. 
It is only natural and proper to presume that their purpose is to 
render successful administrations of their bureaus by getting work 
done and getting it done right. It is most convincing proof that 
the merit system properly discriminates between the competent and 
the incompetent in the engineering service. 

You will note that in this short paper I have necessarily limited 
myself to a discussion of original entrance to the service and have 
omitted other important matters, such as protection in tenure, 


DISCUSSION 


105 


promotion and other things. The merit system has come to stay 
and its the rock upon which any stable and efficient engineering 
service must be built and maintained. 

The Chairman: The subject is now open for general discussion. 

Mr. Patterson (of the Prison Commission of Georgia): We have 
had under consideration for some time in our department the se¬ 
lection of road engineers to assist the various counties in Georgia 
in their road work. I was extremely interested in hearing this dis¬ 
cussion, because we have been somewhat at a loss to know, when we 
employed those men how and where to get them. The law pro¬ 
vides that these men employ not more than four supervisors who shall 
visit the various counties, inspect the convicts in their work and per¬ 
form such other duties as may be required of them by the commis¬ 
sion ; also that it shall be the duty of the supervisors to inform them¬ 
selves thoroughly upon the subject of road building, etc., and in the 
economical handling of convicts. It provides that the salary of 
those men shall not exceed $1800 per year and expenses. Now 
how can we get—what kind of method could we employ to get these 
experts, who shall be civil engineers, if possible, but who shall be 
experts in this line of work—to give this assistance to our various 
counties in Georgia? The weakness of the system in Georgia is 
the fact that the State does not provide this expert assistance. Our 
counties are working their roads by convicts and some of them do 
not feel financially able to secure expert engineers to put in charge 
of this work, but the law provides that the Prison Commission shall 
employ four experts who shall visit the various counties, spend as 
much time in them as possible and instruct the men in handling their 
convicts, building their bridges and doing the engineering con¬ 
struction for these various counties. What kind of method can we 
employ to get competent men? 

Mr. Swanson: Who has the appointing power? 

Mr. Patterson: The Prison Commission. I am a member of 
the Prison Commission. 

Mr. Swanson: And the work is temporary? 

Mr. Patterson: No, it is permanent and the salary is $1800, 
and expenses; it is equivalent to a salary of $3000, if a man pays his 
own expenses. 

Mr. Swanson: I understand they are employed both winter and 
summer? 

Mr. Patterson: Yes, the year round. 


106 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


Mr. Swanson: Well, I think if you could do it, the first thing 
to do would be to set aside any idea of residence within any particu¬ 
lar county or even within the State. Would these men be confined 
to a single county? 

Mr. Patterson: No. There are just four of them and we have 
120 counties working convicts; each man would have charge of the 
supervision of the work of 30 counties. 

Mr. Swanson : It seems to me if your Prison Commission would 
appoint a board of high class engineers within the State, say three 
men whose fairness of mind you could count upon and whose interest 
in the work was real and genuine, and then proceed very much the 
way we do with the civil service examination, that is, issue a notice 
which might be put in various papers within the State, and if you 
decide to set aside residence, put the notice in such papers as the 
Engineering News, Engineering Record and Manufacturers Record , 
outside the State—a short notice describing the kind of position 
you are going to fill, the salary and the method by which it will be 
filled and giving such assurances as you can as to the tenure of 
office, and then specify when and where the men should send their 
applications. That will be a preliminary step. Now, if you have 
not had much experience with examining people, it seems to me that 
an examination consisting of a consideration of their training and 
experience, together with an oral interview before such a board as I 
mention, would be the proper way to do it, because in those super¬ 
visory positions where men have charge of other men as these men 
would have, I want to say to you that it is very largely a question 
of what a man has done and what his personality consists of. I 
want to urge upon you the importance of the personality of a man 
in a position where he has supervision, and the only way to get that 
is by an oral examination before some perfectly fair and honest 
board that you might designate. I should say that all applicants 
might be requested to send in statements of their training and 
experience. These could be gone over by this board and such of them 
as seem to be worth while could be sent for to be interviewed by the 
board on a certain day and then the board could grade and rank them 
on a list that you can appoint from. If you have no civil service 
law, then in your original announcement you ought to specify a 
method of selection and that you are going to take them exactly 
as they stand on the list or are going to take one out of three so 
that a candidate would have some assurance as to how he would be 
treated if he came as a competitor. 

Mr. Patterson: The University of Georgia and the Georgia 
School of Technology both have departments of engineering; would 
the heads of those departments make good examiners? 


DISCUSSION 


107 


Mr. Swanson: Yes, sir. I would try to draw into the work, 
besides those men, men who are out in the world on actual con¬ 
struction; I would not make a board altogether composed of college 
men. 

Mr. Patterson: I see. That is just the information I wanted. 

Mr. A. R. Johnson (of Tennessee): I desire to ask this ques¬ 
tion; I gather from the statement in regard to the painters of Phila¬ 
delphia, that they selected those men who showed the most effi¬ 
ciency at the time the work was done. Now suppose we take the aver¬ 
age proposition up in my county of building roads for the first time. 
We want engineers, of course, and we want contractors. I think 
you have answered the engineering part of it fully, but what, if any, 
examination should the contractor stand and what efficiency should 
he show before he is employed and the work turned over to him. 

Mr. Swanson: Well, that is entirely a new problem. I have 
never had any experience with it, but I should say it seems to me 
that you could get that from the reputation of the contractor in 
his community, through first class business references which he 
might be able to give and through an examination into the jobs 
that he has had and the way in which he has done them. I think 
it is more a question of the standing of the contractor in his own 
community in that case. I understand that you mean the man 
to whom you are going to let your contracts and who is going to do 
your work? 

Mr. Wales: Do you want to know if you are going to select 
that contractor from a number of people, how you would hold him 
responsible? 

Mr. Johnson: We have tried to hold him responsible by con¬ 
tract and have failed. I am so much delighted with the talk this 
evening on the merit system that I thought I might take some 
little of it and apply it in getting contractors to do the work that we 
propose to do over in Tennessee. I want a man to do it that is cap¬ 
able and will go along and do it. Now as to his capability, I wanted 
to get some idea as to how I would know. That is what I want 
to carry home with me. 

Mr. Wales: There would be no competitive selection, of course. 

The Chairman: I suppose you would have him give bond for 
the good performance of his work and would have competition. 
Would not your engineer draw up some system of competition for 
the work that these various contractors would bid upon? 


108 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


Mr. Johnson: Yes, that is true, but from your statement I 
gathered that there’s thousands of dollars wasted on these con¬ 
tracts and I want to avoid that trouble. 

The Chairman: Then have a good engineer appointed who 
will inspect the work properly before payment is made. 

Mr. Leech (of Ohio): It seems to me that the worst stumbling 
block in the way of the merit system is the question of local resi¬ 
dence. It is very little trouble for a city the size of Philadelphia 
to find within its boundaries sufficient well trained engineers to fill 
the vacancies, but in some parts of our country, or some of our 
smaller villages, there is not within them possibly a well trained 
engineer. The legislatures, in forming a great many of our laws, 
provide that the villages or the mayor shall appoint a civil service 
commission and they in turn hold a competitive examination, and 
quite frequently, within that very village there is not more than one 
or two, at most, that are qualified to compete. The result is that 
we get the same men who have been doing the work right along. 
There is really no competition, and no increased efficiency. It seems 
to me that it would be well if we could get away from this local 
residence phase and open up the examination to the capable men, 
let them come from Maine or California or from one extreme of the 
country to another. 

The Chairman: That is the course we advised and in arguing 
the question before some authorities who wished to limit the ex¬ 
amination to residents, we made this argument, that if we bring 
in a man from another State and he is employed all the year, you 
have another resident that comes in and occupies new property, 
spends his money in your State and adds to its wealth, as every 
good, competent man does. In Massachusetts it is left to the civil 
service commission. They have full freedom to go outside, and 
in the higher positions like that of engineers, they frequently go 
outside the city and even outside the State. I understand that 
the same is true of Philadelphia. 

Mr. Whitney (of California): I am interested in this ques¬ 
tion of going outside your own county or outside your own State 
to select a competent engineer. In Sonoma County, Cal., about a 
year ago, there was a highway commission appointed for the pur¬ 
pose of looking into road conditions and to finally map out a road 
system for that county. I happened to be one of that commis¬ 
sion, and after I assumed office, the question with myself and the 
other commissioners was, where to find a competent man to do the 
work. We had engineers in our county, or surveyors who thought 
they could do the work as we desired, but we were not satisfied that 
they were the men; consequently we commenced to look around. 


DISCUSSION 


109 


We could not resort to your civil service examination; we had no 
means by which we could do it, so we investigated the standing 
of different engineers in the State of California. Finally we went 
to San Joaquin County, where we found a young man who had been 
sent out to California several years ago by the Department at 
Washington. He was sent out to make a report on soil condi¬ 
tions of San Joaquin County. He made a report and about this 
time the county had concluded that they wanted a better road 
commission. They had formed their Good Roads Club and com¬ 
menced their campaign and finally it reached the point where 
they appointed an expert engineer to do that preliminary work 
for them. They selected this young man who was sent out from 
Washington and he made the preliminary surveys, gave them their 
estimate and finally was employed and received a discharge from 
Washington. He was employed to go ahead and construct the roads 
in San Joaquin County. They had bonded for nearly $2,000,000. 
He came there and had charge of the work during its entire con¬ 
struction and we investigated the result of his work both by ex¬ 
amining his road and by all the information that we could gain 
from every source possible, and after a thorough examination and 
investigation we concluded that he was the man we wanted and 
employed him. There was a condition in which we went from one 
county to another in the State, and selected a man for his fitness, 
and I think we were fully justified by the results accomplished. 

Mr. King (of Memphis, Tenn.): This is a matter, gentlemen, 
that is going to adjust itself in the course of time. In the South 
this matter of the employment of engineers who superintend road 
construction is new and most of our road builders have thought 
that the position was a sinecure, an easy job; but we are getting 
away from that, and because they did think it was an easy job, 
they expected some taxpayer in the county or some son of a tax¬ 
payer to receive that job; but with us in Memphis, Shelby County, 
we are adopting not only the merit system but we are insisting that 
a man must give value received to the county for his salary, in labor 
and in skill. Now there is not a business man, commercial or 
agricultural, who adopt that plan of employing men who live only 
in the city in which he lives. So this old method and system of 
employing men to hold official positions merely because they hap¬ 
pen to live there and are taxpayers—we are going to get out of that 
and our young men are going to prepare themselves for it; and I 
see, my friends, no very great trouble because we are now coming 
to the point where we are building roads scientifically, and we are 
employing skilled men who are going to give all their time to the 
work. 

The Chairman: There were two more papers scheduled for this 
afternoon and I am afraid we will have to close the debate if the 


110 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


gentlemen who are to read those papers are here. The first paper 
is “Engineering Supervision of Road Construction” by W. S. Keller, 
State Highway Engineer of Alabama. 

ENGINEERING SUPERVISION OF ROAD CONSTRUCTION 

By W. S. Keller, 

State Highway Engineer of Alabama . 

This question confronts every commission that has the building 
of good roads, and it would appear to the business man that the 
wisdom of having an engineer supervise the expenditure of large sums 
of money on highway construction, would not be questioned any more 
than a railroad company would question the wisdom of employing 
an engineer to locate and supervise the construction of a railroad. 

We may, therefore, for discussion divide this subject under two 
general heads: 

Is engineering supervision of road construction necessary? 

Why is an engineer better fitted to supervise road construction 
than a practical road builder who is not an engineer? 

The average county commissioner has had no experience whatever 
with an engineer. He has, however, carried the rear end of a chain 
for the county surveyor, and, in unison with his colleague, the front 
chainman, cried “stick, stuck.” He has a very exalted opinion of 
this man with the Jacob staff and compass who is able to follow land 
lines for a distance of three or four miles a day. Far be it from me to 
belittle the county surveyor. I would, instead, erect a monument to 
him as a martyr who receives a pittance for his labor and a “cussing” 
for his pains. We point with pride to the fact that the “Father of 
his Country” was a land surveyor, but we seriously doubt if he was 
competent to locate, and properly supervise the construction of roads 

Engineering supervision of road construction is absolutely neces¬ 
sary and this statement is proven every day, positively and nega¬ 
tively, in this state of Georgia. A layman riding over the roads of 
Georgia can tell at a glance a road that has been located and built 
under the direction of an engineer. When he rides over a road that 
has been constructed along the old trail, located by the Indians and 
early settlers, without any regard whatever for grades and very little 
for drainage; he sees the hand marks of the commissioner, who saves 
his county the salary of an engineer, and spends it thrice over in use¬ 
less work and expensive maintenance. 

Despite the fact that a majority of commissioners or supervisors 
have had no training whatever in road building, they will concede to 
no one that they are not as well qualified to direct road work as any 
engineer they can employ. They will often admit that an engineer 
should locate and stake off a road, but they think his duty ends 
there. It is just as necessary that an engineer supervise construction 
work as it is that he should locate the road. How many commis- 


SUPERVISION OF ROAD CONSTRUCTION 


111 


sioners in the hearing of my voice can tell me how much it costs to 
move a yard of earth or how much it costs to install pipe of various 
makes—how much per cubic yard their concrete culverts are costing 
them? You may say we know how much per mile our roads are 
costing, why should we bother to know the unit cost? Why, my 
friends, does a merchant keep the unit cost of his wares? Because he 
desires to buy from the man who sells the cheapest. So, a county 
should know if its roads are costing more than they should. 

The commissioners of a certain county in Alabama claimed that 
they were building roads as cheap or cheaper than any contractor 
could do the work. They had an engineer estimate the cubic yard¬ 
age of earth moved for a certain period of time and to their surprise 
it was costing 37J cents per cubic yard when the average contract 
price in Alabama for three years had been 23 cents per cubic yard. 
Authorities should know whether they are getting value received 
for their money, and an official who overlooks such a vital question, 
is not true to the trust placed in him by the people. 

Many counties are imposed on in the purchase of material and 
supplies and are actually paying more for such in large quantities 
than individuals have to pay for the same in small amounts. This 
is usually attributed to either carelessness, politics, or a false idea 
some of the commissioners have as to their duty. I believe the 
duty of commissioners, in so far as road building is concerned (and 
it can equally as well be applied to other public matters) is to pur¬ 
chase with as much care and secure just as low prices as they would 
if buying for themselves as individuals, regardless of whether the 
goods purchased come from local or foreign merchants; of course, 
giving always the preference to local merchants, if their wares are 
as good and prices as low as those of outsiders. It is not the duty 
of road authorities to conduct county affairs so as to make money for 
individuals or to give jobs to political henchmen. If a competent man 
cannot be found within the borders of a county fit by experience 
for a position such as foreman, it is right and proper that a com¬ 
petent man should be secured from elsewhere. 

The remedy for these ills is, unquestionably, to have some one 
in charge of road building qualified by education and training and 
free from political influences, who can be held responsible for results. 
Very few counties have commissioners or supervisors who devote all 
of their time and attention to their office, and it is self-evident that 
an engineer trained in road building will get better results than can 
any set of men who give only a few days in the year to their public 
office. 

As to the second division of this subject, “Why an engineer is better 
fitted to supervise the construction of roads than a practical road 
builder who is not an engineer.” First, an engineer is indispensable, 
even though you have a splendid layman to supervise the work. A 
large percentage of all roads to be constructed require relocation, 
profiles made, grades established and if the work is to be contracted, 


112 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


the road must be cross-sectioned and the yardage of excavation and 
embankment calculated and made to balance as near as possible. 
Such work, a layman cannot do. Who is better fitted to supervise 
the construction of any job than the man who plans and specifies 
the work? The road supervisor is usually uneducated and it is 
practically impossible for him to correctly account for the expenditure 
of large sums of money and equally as impossible for him to keep 
cost account of his work. 

This condition is usually brought about by a disposition on the 
part of the Board of Supervisors or Commissioners to economize. 
Unfortunately, many county commissioners can see only the engi¬ 
neer’s salary to be paid twelve times a year and the inevitable result 
that there will be quite a decrease in the number of days they can 
legitimately demand pay for laying off and superintending the build¬ 
ing or repair of roads in their respective districts. In other words, 
the engineer is a usurper, taking away the salary of those guardians 
of the people’s right who are so anxious to save money for the people 
that they save $200 per month engineer’s salary and spend $500 per 
month in doing it. So long as we elect officials because of their 
popularity rather than fitness, and pay them a mere pittance for 
their services, we may expect many of them to be incompetent and 
often dishonest. A striking case, and which I am sorry to say is 
typical in many sections of our country, came to my attention in 
Alabama. A foreman in the employ of a certain county was dis¬ 
charged by the commissioners of the district in which he had been 
working. The commissioner gave as a reason for discharge, that he 
himself could look after the teams and hands and thereby save the 
county several dollars a month. The foreman resented his being 
discharged and took upon himself the investigation of the commis¬ 
sioner’s record. He found that on a certain day this commissioner 
drove seven miles to a small bridge where he then and there made a 
contract with a party to repair the bridge at a cost of $1.50. A few 
days later he went back to this bridge to inspect the work he had 
ordered done. The record of the Commissioners’ Court showed 
that cost of repairing was $1.50 and cost of inspection two days at 
$3 to $6. Did this commissioner do a dishonest act? He certainly 
was entitled to pay for at least the time consumed by himself yet it 
is manifestly wrong for such a condition to exist that cost of super¬ 
vision is four times that of construction or repair. This would have 
been a very small matter to an engineer who, while having the 
bridge repaired, would attend to many other duties. 

It is almost impossible to convince many county officials that an 
engineer can easily save his salary several times over by making cer¬ 
tain changes in location and grade and by economically administering 
the affairs of the county. As a general rule a county gets more in 
return for money spent for engineering services than for any other 
single item connected with road construction. A good engineer is a 
dividend producer for a county. In speaking along this line at the 


SUPERVISION OF ROAD CONSTRUCTION 


113 


American Road Congress held in Atlantic City in 1912, Col. W. D. 
Sohier said: 

You will find if you look at any private corporation, that the ordinary 
engineering expenses for any work of the character of road building, any con¬ 
structional work, is usually about 10 per cent, and that it is good money well 
spent. 

Someone has said that an engineer is a man who can do as much 
with one dollar as a fool can with two. Evidently he did not have 
reference to the fool engineer. 

The most expensive fool is the fool engineer. He is to a very great 
extent responsible for the prejudice many have against engineering 
supervision of road construction. There is absolutely no excuse for 
a county employing an incompetent man, now that the government, 
through the office of public roads, stands ready and anxious to aid 
any county in securing a good engineer. An engineer applying for 
a position should be endorsed by those for whom he has worked and 
by men competent to pass judgment on engineering work. It is an 
easy matter for a man to get endorsements from friends who have 
perhaps known him in a social way, but such are only beneficial to 
prove his good character. An engineer with only a good character 
will build a road without any “character.” 

A highway engineer should have a good technical education and 
to be successful, he must be practical and he must be a diplomat. 
He should be sober, honest, energetic and think more about the work 
he is trying to do than the pay check he will receive at the end of the 
month. When taking charge of a county's road affairs he should 
convince the commissioners that he knows more than they do about 
building roads and then proceed to prove it by doing good work. 
Unless an engineer can absolutely convince his Board of Commission¬ 
ers that he knows his business, he had best resign. Trouble is often 
brought about by the engineer failing to have a thorough understand¬ 
ing as to his duties. This can easily be avoided if, when an engineer 
makes a contract with a county, he clearly sets forth in this contract 
what his duties are. If he is to be held responsible, and he should be, 
for the success of the undertaking, he should have full power to em¬ 
ploy and discharge those under him. I think this is well expressed 
in Rule 2 of Rules and Regulations of the State Highway Department 
of Alabama, which reads as follows: 

The functions of the Commission are judicial and those of the engineer, 
executive. The engineer will receive and carry out the directions of the 
Commission and shall, in turn, direct those under him. The engineer shall 
have full charge of construction work, directing it in all its details. Any orders 
the Commission wish to give an employe shall be given through the engineer, 
and the engineer shall have the right to employ, with the consent of the Com¬ 
mission, and to suspend, subject to discharge, without consulting the Com¬ 
mission. All suspensions shall be reported to the Commission for such aotion 
as they deem necessary. 

In conclusion, let me say to you who are commissioned to spend 
the people’s money, if you are in doubt as to the advisability of 


114 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


employing an engineer, observe closely the roads of a county built 
without the guiding hand of an engineer and then those of another 
that have been built by a man skilled in highway engineering. Don’t 
employ a man whose only qualification is that he is cheap. His 
salary will be small and his mistakes will be many and expensive. 
When you are sick you call the doctor, 

When you are mad you call the lawyer, 

When you are hungry you call the baker, 

When you are broke you call the banker, 

When you are in trouble you call the preacher, 

When you are ignorant you call the teacher, 

When you want cotton you call the farmer, 

Then, when you are in need of good roads, why don’t you call the 
engineer, that good roads physician who will heal the w T ounds of the 
country roads, who will operate upon their surfaces and place them 
in perfect order. 

In conclusion, permit me to say, I have no ill-will or animosity for 
any road official. I have tried to point out some of their false ideas 
and mistakes and offered, as best I could, a remedy. 

Mr. Jackson: After hearing the address of Mr. Keller, of Ala¬ 
bama I wish to make a few remarks. I happen to be a county 
commissioner and naturally paid some attention to the remarks of 
my friend from Alabama. I fully agree with Mr. Keller on one point 
and that is the necessity of engineers supervising the work in the vari¬ 
ous counties. I think that I can prove my statement by the past 
record of the county commissioners in the county which I have the 
honor to represent, Hillsborough in South Florida, because when we 
voted a bond issue of a million dollars, more than a year ago, we 
sought a competent engineer at a salary of $5,000 a year; that in 
itself is proof that I agree with Mr. Keller on the necessity for engi¬ 
neers. In addition we have an engineer employed for our regular 
county work and have had for some years past, at from $1200 to 
$1800 a year, and I don’t want this Congress to think that all the 
county commissioners of these Southern States are prejudiced 
against engineers. 

The Chairman: Mr. Robert C. Terrell, State Highway Com¬ 
missioner of Kentucky, will open the discussion on Mr. Keller’s paper. 

Mr. Terrell: In discussing Mr. Keller’s paper on “Engineer¬ 
ing Supervision of Road Construction,” I have no criticism to make, 
and wish to commend the statements that he has made. 

In general, however, I wish to call attention to, and emphasize 
the fact, that not only in the State of Georgia, but in every other 
Southern State “the marks of the commissioner (or member of the 
fiscal court) who saves his county the salary of an engineer and 
spends it thrice over in useless work and expensive maintenance” this 


DISCUSSION 


115 


is true; and where the services of an engineer have been omitted, the 
roads in general follow the old pack-horse trails, which in turn fol¬ 
lowed the foot-paths of the Indian who climbed from the top of one 
high hill to the top of the next on the shortest and most direct route 
and in order to attain the highest point from which to search the 
surrounding country for the herds of buffalo, deer and elk and in 
order to be on the lookout for the enemy. 

Roads constructed along these lines are unnecessarily steep, 
hard to construct, and ten times over, harder to maintain, than 
those which are laid out by the engineer. In the State of Kentucky 
there are splendid examples of the difference between roads thus 
built and those built by engineer; for as early as 1830 the State 
began the construction of roads under the supervision of competent 
engineers, the director of this engineering force being a Frenchman 
who was thoroughly familiar with the methods of location and con¬ 
struction used in France at that time. Roads laid out under the 
engineers during that period still show marked evidences of the skill 
of the engineer in the easy grades, easy curves, good drainage, wide 
roadbeds and types of construction. In the many miles of road 
which were constructed during that period at which interval im¬ 
provement had its being and reached its zenith in the Southern 
States are monuments to the progressive and intelligent ideas that 
were then prevalent among our political and economic leaders. 

These roads in many instances were cut from solid rock in order 
to secure proper grades and alignment, and massive stone walls were 
built where necessary, but with the backward swing of the pendulum 
followed by the calamities of the Civil War, the wheels of progress 
stood still, not only in commercial and financial lines but also in road 
building and engineering supervision as well. Since that time, 
however, little progress has been made, although many miles of roads 
have been surfaced with stone or gravel, at possibly much lower 
first cost than were the roads previously mentioned; yet the main¬ 
tenance (or possibly better put, the necessity for completely resur¬ 
facing the roads) has made them much more costly; yea, thrice over 
more costly than the original cost, and the maintenance of roads built 
under engineering supervision many years before. 

The Southern States have probably suffered most from the lack of 
engineering supervision on road construction due to the reason given 
above. After the close of the Civil War, the commissioners (or 
magistrates) felt it their duty to save the salary of an engineer and 
to surface as cheaply as possible the largest number of miles of road, 
believing that a road surfaced with stone or gravel would last in¬ 
definitely; paying no heed to grades or drainage and basing their 
calculations upon the results of roads built by engineers in an earlier 
day who had given special attention to the points entirely overlooked 
by the commissioner or magistrate. Little did he dream that his 
penny-wise policy was costing his county pounds; yea, many thou¬ 
sands of pounds annually. 


116 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


No pendulum ever swings so far, however, but that it must swing 
back again; and in 1912 the State of Kentucky saw the dawn of a 
new era in road building when the State again provided for engi¬ 
neering advice on the construction and reconstruction of the public 
roads and bridges; and still more definite steps were taken by the 
1914 General Assembly in the passage of additional laws designating 
a system of State highways and providing for State aid for their 
construction and engineering supervision on all work to which State Aid 
was granted. Already the fiscal court, or board of magistrates, 
of the various counties are seeking to take advantage of the State 
aid engineering advice and supervision, and are beginning to real¬ 
ize more fully every day the advantages of building with a view 
of not only caring for the present, but looking to the future develop¬ 
ment of the country and the travel that the road will be expected 
to carry by constructing or reconstructing their roads in such a 
manner as to care for the traffic of the future as well as the present. 

Mr. Keller’s paper has brought out well the advantages to be 
gained by having engineers take up the estimates, look after the 
purchase of materials and see that the unit costs are kept, and 
that the prices paid are correspondingly low. The material sales¬ 
man has found that for the official who is not skilled in the pur¬ 
chasing of such material is prone to reject the advice and infor¬ 
mation furnished by engineers, or rather resent the idea of consult¬ 
ing an engineer; that to this type of man he needs only to pat him 
on the back, flatter him on his judgment and business ability and 
secure the contract at an advanced price, and in many instances, 
at a sufficient price to enable him to induce his competitors by one 
means or another not to interfere. 

To this type of official, the material dealer finds the flattering 
tongue for the commissioner (or magistrate) and a denouncing 
tongue for the engineer very profitable and effective, as the engi¬ 
neer as a rule refuses to stoop to heated arguments or personalities 
with the dealer. However, this tendency toward the electing of 
more competent officials who are more conscientious, intelligent 
and business-like, is the rule rather than the exception, and with the 
upward trend comes the recognition of the engineer and his value 
in the supervision and road construction. 

I have endeavored to point out only a few advantages of engi¬ 
neering supervision which are apparent in my native State, and in 
closing I wish to say that I do not feel that I can add very much 
to Mr. Keller’s splendid paper. I wish to heartily endorse in general 
the statements he has made. 

The Chairman: The next paper is “State Control of Road Work 
as a Policy,” by Mr. A. N. Johnson, of the Bureau of Municipal 
Research, New York City. 


STATE CONTROL OF ROAD CONSTRUCTION 


11 ? 


STATE CONTROL OF ROAD CONSTRUCTION 

By A. N. Johnson 

Bureau of Municipal Research , New York 

The control by the State of road construction has grown from zero 
in 1893 to a widespread policy among the States, varying much in 
degree and method of application; from extensive control extending 
even to supervision over the smaller political units, to concern only 
with a few highways in whose construction the State is directly finan¬ 
cially interested. Between such wide limits there exist almost all 
degrees of State interest. 

Before entering upon any discussion as to the merits of the policy 
of State control of highway construction, it is perhaps well to make 
a brief summary of existing conditions. For this purpose a study 
has been made of the road laws, advantage being taken of summarized 
statements where they existed or were at hand for consultation. It 
may, therefore, happen that in some details of the table herewith 
presented there may be some slight error, due to the interpretation 
from the road law itself to the summary, and also the interpretation 
placed upon the summary. However, as the purpose of this table 
is merely to give a general view of conditions which would not, there¬ 
fore, be seriously modified by any slight error, it was not thought 
of sufficient importance to take the large amount of time that would 
have been necessary to check carefully this table against the text 
of the road laws themselves. In the main it is believed to be accurate 
and for the purpose devised, trustworthy. Some analysis and ex¬ 
planation of the table will aid in its interpretation. 

The States have first been checked in regard to the existance of 
a State highway department. Checks have been made in divisions 
under this general heading showing whether a State has highway 
commissioners and a State engineer, or both. Under the heading 
“commissioners” the States have been checked to show whether 
the commissioners are appointed or elected, whether any qualifica¬ 
tion is required, whether any members of the commission are ex officio 
members. Under the State engineer it is noted whether he is an ap¬ 
pointive or an elective officer and whether any qualification is re¬ 
quired. 

The next main division is State aid roads. By State-aid roads is 
meant specific sections of roads for which the State pays some por¬ 
tion of the cost, and exercises direct supervision in their construction, 
as contrasted to a few instances where the State pays the towns cer¬ 
tain money to assist in the construction of their roads in general. 
Under State-aid roads it is noted whether the construction is controlled 
by the State, and whether maintained by the State or by local authori¬ 
ties. Also, whether they are .paid for entirely by the State, by the 
State and county, by the State, county and town, and whether the 
land owners of abutting property pay any portion of the cost'. The 


118 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


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STATE CONTROL OF ROAD CONSTRUCTION 


119 


relation of the State to other than State-aid roads is shown by the 
control exercised by the State, whether advisory or specific, that is, 
the State exercising by law definite supervision or whether the roads 
are entirely under local officials’ control. The existance of local 
highway engineers is also noted, whether they are appointed by the 
local authorities or by the State department, and whether there is any 
qualification required on the part of the State; again whether their 
actions are controlled in any way by the State or are under the con¬ 
trol of local officials only. 

The source of money expended upon the roads is noted, whether 
from county or township taxes, whether, where townships exist, 
there is any provision for county aid to the townships; also whether 
local communities receive any aid from the State to assist in the 
maintenance and construction of their local roads in general. 

Some of the facts to be noted from this table are: that there are 
but seven States without State highway departments. There have 
thus been created in the past twenty years thirty-six State highway 
departments. Of these thirty-six States it is to be noted that thirty- 
four have State-aid roads, that is, specific pieces of road which are 
constructed in part by State funds; five of the State highway depart¬ 
ments have no commissioners, only a State engineer; while fifteen 
have State commissioners and no State engineer. It is thus seen 
that a majority of State highway departments are organized with a 
commission and State engineer. 

The State highway commissions are appointed in part or in whole 
in thirty-one States, while in fourteen the State highway commissions 
include ex officio members. In but one State is the highway com¬ 
missioner elected, and in seven only are any qualifications required. 
In twenty-seven the State engineer is an appointive officer. In no 
State is he an elective officer, but in six only are qualifications required. 
Where any qualifications are required for the position of State engineer 
they are for the most part among the recently enacted State highway 
laws. State highway legislation could be much bettered, if qualifi¬ 
cations were required in all the States where State engineers exist 
but it is at least some satisfaction that the State highway engineer 
is in no State an elective officer. 

In the States where State-aid roads are built, it is to be noted that 
the construction is controlled by the State in thirty-four instances. 
In twenty-one instances the State-aid roads are maintained by the 
State, that is, the State exercises immediate supervision and con¬ 
trol of the maintenance, although the expense of the maintenance may 
not be in each instance fully at the cost of the State. In the re¬ 
maining instances the control of the maintenance is in the hands of 
local officials. As it was a number of years before any State save 
Massachusetts exercised control over the maintenance of the State- 
aid roads, the large proportion that now do take charge of this import¬ 
ant function shows a greater realization of the importance of mainte¬ 
nance of the State-aid roads by a central control, and where States 


120 


\MERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


are contributing funds towards any considerable mileage, they must 
soon realize the absolute necessity of State control of the maintenance 
of these roads if the service that State-aid roads should render the 
public is to be secured and the investment made by the State in their 
construction conserved. 

The method of paying for State-aid roads varies in different States, 
and it varies for different roads in the same State. Some States, 
for example, have a certain system of highways for which the State 
pays all the cost, while on another system of roads the State and coun¬ 
ty divide the cost. There are fifteen States in which the State pays 
the total cost on State-aid roads, although some of these States also 
share with the county or town in the construction of other State-aid 
roads. There are twenty-six States in which State-aid roads are 
built by the aid of the State and county, two in which the State and 
town are contributors; also but two in which any assessment of the 
cost of the State-aid road is borne by the adjoining property. It is 
thus seen that most States consider that State-aid roads should not 
be paid for by assessments on adjoining property. 

The control by the State over other than State-aid roads has been 
a recent development and its origin may probably be traced directly 
to those States which began their State road work by the organiza¬ 
tion of a commission to study and report on conditions before under¬ 
taking definite expenditures for State-aid roads. This was first under¬ 
taken in Maryland, and the law provided that the State could advise 
with local authorities as to the construction of their roads and bridges, 
and the work of the Maryland highway department demonstrated that 
there was much to be gained by advisory supervision on the part of 
the State. Such work has been done by a number of States only to 
a greater degree, notably, in Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa. The work 
in these States at first was advisory only, that is, the local authorities 
cooperated with the State departments voluntarily, the law not 
requiring that they should necessarily follow the advice given by the 
State. But the remarkable success of this work, the widespread 
influence it exerted after a few years of activity, the hearty coopera¬ 
tion on the part of many local officials, and compulsory cooperation 
through public opinion on the part of others, demonstrated con¬ 
clusively the wisdom and the need for definite control by a State 
highway department over the activities of local road officials. 

Today advisory control is exercised by State departments in twent} r - 
three States and definite control already exists in three. 

Perhaps the greatest significance attaches to the fact that there 
are fifteen States in which local highway engineers are provided for 
by statutes. This is in considerable contrast to the opinion that 
road work could be done by anybody and did not require any skilled 
supervision. But the fact that in no more than a third of the States 
are local engineers required by statute shows that the appreciation 
of skilled control has not spread to the extent that it should. The 
work that has been accomplished by the highway engineers in the 


STATE CONTROL OF ROAD CONSTRUCTION 


12 ) 


past ten years in this country has demonstrated beyond further 
argument the need for such control. 

The reason for a policy of State control of road work that exists 
in so many States, and is increasing, will be found in the demand 
of the people generally in all parts of the country for better highway 
service. Highway transportation has become an increasing factor 
in economic development, and with its increasing importance there is 
demanded better transportation facilities of the highways. This 
necessitated that the highways should be given better attention and 
different treatment than had been the practice. The problem of 
highway development is realized to be of general concern, not merely 
local. The interests of one locality in this problem is no longer con¬ 
fined to the roads immediately adjoining, with the result that it has 
been manifest that a larger unit of control than a town or county 
would be necessary if the development of the highways was to be such 
as would make it possible for them to render the service the public 
demands. There has, therefore, grown, as we have seen, an increasing 
control by the State over the local communities in the matter of road 
building, and as a broad policy, resting as it does on sound economic 
conditions, it is not only wise, but inevitable; and that it is practical 
has already been demonstrated by the work done in many States. 
Among these may be mentioned notably Massachusetts, Connecticut, 
New York, Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa. 

Perhaps the most interesting study of State control is to be had from 
an examination of the Iowa law and its practical application. In 
Iowa the State highway department spends no money on State-aid 
roads but it is concerned solely with the direction and supervision 
of the taxes raised by the local communities for expenditure upon 
their highways. 1 

The work done in many States, particularly in Illinois, has demon¬ 
strated the efficiency of road construction by day labor. As carried 
on in Illinois, the State furnished the skilled supervision and the more 
expensive machinery, the locality, the labor and teams. There is a 
two-fold benefit gained by handling the work in this manner—the 
quality of the work is superior to contract work, or perhaps, a fairer 
statement would be, the quality of the work desired is more readily ob¬ 
tained, and is done at a cost to the community less than it could be 
done by contract. Where State control of road work exists and ex¬ 
tends into the concerns of the smaller units, it is possible for a much 
greater variety and amount of work to be handled by day labor, 
than would be at all wise or practicable if the skilled supervision 
that the State highway department can furnish the localities could 
not be obtained. 

What has been realized from State control of road work may be 

1 For more detailed examples and accomplishment through the policy of 
State control of road work, the reader is referred to the paper prepared by 
Mr. Thomas H. McDonald, State Highway Engineer of Iowa, to whom is due 
chief credit for the splendid results that have been attained in that State. 


122 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


thus summed up: The development of a system of main highways 
adapted to modern motor freight traffic which promises such great 
economic changes in both rural and urban life, increasing the efficiency 
of local road officials in the expenditure of the local taxes by prevent¬ 
ing useless undertakings, by suggesting economic forms of construction 
and by increasing the economic service of the highways by concen¬ 
trating expenditures on important roads and preventing waste on 
unimportant ones; the prevention of numerous accidents and fatal¬ 
ities by the construction of safe bridges and elimination or treatment 
of railroad grade crossings in such a manner as greatly to lessen the 
danger from them. And experience has demonstrated that these 
ends are accomplished by State control of road work and only by 
such control. 

The Chairman: Next on the program is the discussion of Mr. 
Johnson’s paper, by T. H. MacDonald, State Highway Engineer 
of Iowa, which will be read by Mr. H. C. Beard, member of the 
Iowa Highway Commission. 

Mr. Beard: Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Congress: 
This paper was prepared by Mr. MacDonald, our highway engineer, 
who is unable to attend this meeting and I will read it. I will also 
say, while I do so, that at one place in this paper, I wish to enlarge 
a little bit upon it relative to the organization that we have com¬ 
pleted under the law as laid out here. State control with State 
aid, as pointed out by Mr. Johnson, is written into all of the older 
State laws which established and placed in authority, State Highway 
Departments. State control without State aid is a new principle 
in such legislation because of the long association of these two ideas, 
they have become confused in the popular mind so that State control 
has come to mean State aid, and if a State proposes to exercise cer¬ 
tain control without paying for the privilege by the appropria¬ 
tions of funds to the local communities the State immediately 
encounters more or less hostility from these communities. The 
more or less is dependent upon the number of local patriots who 
are willing to sacrifice their own personal interests on the altar 
of public service, i.e., in some office within the gift of the voters. 
Seriously, however, the principle of State control is quite separate 
and distinct from that of State aid appropriations, and these are not 
necessarily complementary State policies. State aid may be appro¬ 
priated from State revenues received from sources which do not 
contribute to local taxes or it may consist in a distribution of State 
tax receipts on property which also pays local taxes. If the former, 
then State control with State aid is a justifiable policy only if this con¬ 
trol secures equal or greater returns to the State than if such aid were 
distributed without State control. If the State aid funds are simply 
the distribution of direct property taxes, then State control must 
justify itself by better results than if the same amount were ex- 


DISCUSSION 


123 


pended as local taxes. As shown in the preceding paper all of the 
thirty-four States which have State aid roads, exercise State con¬ 
trol over the construction and twenty-one States have found it 
necessary to take over the control of the maintenance. It seems 
to be a thoroughly established fact that the State must control the 
maintenance of State built roads if these are to be maintained ade¬ 
quately and continuously. This fact is proof positive that State 
aid is something more than the appropriation of money, and that it 
contributes an element of administrative efficiency that is not in any 
way measured by the amount of funds appropriated. If this be 
true, then in this fact we find a justification of State control without 
State aid. From a study of the policies of the method of extending 
State aid as set forth, each method is a product of the method of rais¬ 
ing State revenues, the state of development of road construction 
reached, the area or mileage which the plan is adopted to cover and 
the particular type of administrative scheme adopted. The older 
State laws in force in the Eastern States show the influence of the 
French and other foreign administrative plans. These methods as 
they have been adopted by States further west, have been changed 
or modified by the above factors. The more recently adopted 
measures in the upper Mississippi Valley States have shown a con¬ 
siderable divergence from the older plans. As stated by Mr. John¬ 
son, these plans were adopted generally after some years of opera¬ 
tion of a commission or State Highway Department having advisory 
powers. The work of these departments greatly demonstrated the 
desirability of a more efficient use of the funds available and the 
possibility of greater results with such an administration than 
through increased appropriations without an efficient administrative 
system. Of the highway laws that have been passed in recent 
years, the Iowa law probably contains more distinctive departures 
from what might be termed established practice than any other 
law. The less than two years in which this law has been in operation 
is far too short a time to judge of the measure as a practical work¬ 
ing policy. That it is not yet a finished or polished administrative 
measure will be admitted by any of its warmest friends, but even its 
enemies must admit that the change in the road situation in the 
State, speaking from the balance sheets which show the results accom¬ 
plished, are surprising. Those competent to judge expected that it 
would take five years to bring such a measure into a satisfactorily 
working system, but in many of the counties practically the first 
year’s work has shown the law enforced almost to the letter so far 
as the county work is concerned, and in these a considerable por¬ 
tion of the townships are operating in full accord with its provisions. 
The smoothness with which the system has been working in many 
of the counties has astonished those who expected several years of 
general opposition to a policy of State control without State aid. 
In formulating this law, which is taken as a typical example of a law 
formed to supply State control without State aid, the General 


124 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


Assembly of Iowa disregarded practically all measures relating to 
roads and bridges then on the statute books, excepting those relat¬ 
ing to revenues alone. An entirely new road measure was drafted 
without changing the revenues that could be raised for road and 
bridge purposes. One fund was made a mandatory levy in place of 
an optional one, which is absolutely the only change in revenues 
made. It is true that a somewhat larger sum has been raised for 
road and bridge purposes the past year than during previous years, 
but this has been due principally to increased valuations, and the 
per cent of increase is not large. We have then the situation of a 
measure providing State control over local administrative units 
under an entirely new system without a material change in the 
revenues. If under such a system results greater than under the 
old system are secured the policy of State control must be given 
the major share of the credit, as it will not be due to increased 
local revenues, and there is no State aid fund. Briefly the plan 
of organization is as follows: each township is controlled by a board 
of trustees which has power to levy taxes for township road pur¬ 
poses and appoint one man who is responsible for maintenance of 
township roads. In each average Iowa county there are sixteen 
townships. I wish to add here that those township men appointed 
by the board are non-experts, they have no engineering ability and 
receive not more than $4.50 a day for their services. They nomi¬ 
nate superintendents and supervise the work in areas about 6 miles 
square and expending only under their direction from $600 to $2000 
per annum. Each county is governed by a board of three to seven 
supervisors who must appoint a county engineer or engineers, and 
who have the sole authority to levy the taxes for county roads and 
for building all culverts and all bridges, on both the county and the 
township roads. The State Highway Department is a board of 
three men, two appointed by the Governor and one ex-officio. 
These men have authority to appoint an engineering corps and 
office assistants. Under this provision of the law we have 13 
or 14 engineers working all the time under the direction of the 
Highway Commission. The three members of the' commission 
have devoted a great deal more of their time than the law con¬ 
templated that they should to putting into effect this law. They 
limited us to pay for only 100 days in the year. I worked 160 
days myself and the other members of the commission appointed 
by the Governor, who is the owner of several hundred acres of 
Green County land, worked over 200 days and the chairman of our 
commission who is Dean of Engineering in the Iowa State College 
worked perhaps 150 days in putting this law into effect the first 
year. We have now under the direction of our field engineer and 
our highway engineers 6 district engineers who have the State 
under their immediate control for the direction of road work. We 
have the State divided into 5 districts and a man in each district 
to supervise and direct the work of the county engineers, and in 
addition to that we have one man who is a district engineer at 


DISCUSSION 


125 


large, practically, although he will be assigned a district soon. We 
have another engineer who puts in all his time at the work of mak¬ 
ing surveys and plans for the elimination of dangers at grade, under¬ 
grade and overgrade railroad crossings. The county engineers 
are appointed by the board of supervisors, but are liable to removal 
by the highway commissioner for any cause that the highway com¬ 
missioner may deem proper. Up to this time we have removed about 
20 county engineers. At the beginning we found an inclination 
on the part of supervisors to honor the memory of a lot of county 
surveyors by making them county engineers. A number of these 
men had to be removed. Several others accepted the suggestion 
that it was nearly time to resign, and now we have county engi¬ 
neers, one at least in each county and in some counties two, who are 
more or less competent although there are removal proceedings 
pending against perhaps a dozen or more at this time which will 
probably come to a termination against the county engineers 
before the first of the year or before the work begins next year. 
The Iowa law does not provide for any merit system in the selection 
of highway engineers or the county engineers but we have put 
into effect such a principle in a merit system of our own since the 
beginning. We were accused when we started out of being en¬ 
gaged in the occupation of creating offices, soft snaps they were 
called and considered—for the graduates of the Iowa State College 
—but the fact of our year and a half’s work disproved that charge. 
We now have in our force a number of men, I am not able to tell 
exactly the number, who are not graduates of any college, or uni¬ 
versity within the State, and many more who are not from the 
institution with which our highway commission is connected by be¬ 
ing located in one of the buildings and having the Dean as chair¬ 
man of the commission. The county engineers have been drawn 
from all parts of the country. We took the county engineer of 
Buchanan County, Missouri, for one of our county engineers and we 
had thrust upon us the assistant engineer of the State of Nebraska 
as the county engineer and there are engineers at work in the State 
from all parts of the country. We got most of our efficient engi¬ 
neers from the railroad companies. At this time the railroad com¬ 
panies in our State are letting out their engineers and we have pos¬ 
sibly 25 engineers that have come to us within the last year from 
the railroad companies. Those men are almost always proven to 
be very efficient in the work that is put under their charge. The 
plan of operation is as follows: All roads are divided into two classes. 
The county roads which are the main traveled roads, constitute a 
definite system in each county of not more than 15 per cent of the 
mileage and these county systems are interconnecting at the borders 
with the other county systems so that a county system of 16,000 
miles of interconnected highways constitute a primary or county 
highway system. Being continuous as they are through the coun¬ 
ties the county systems form one great State system reaching every 
trading point in the whole State. These roads were selected pri- 


126 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


marily by the board of supervisors of each county, but the com¬ 
mission was charged to the duty of receiving all protests, and of 
finally passing upon each system to make a continuous State system. 
About two miles of road were petitioned for, for each one mile 
that could be established. The system thus established constitutes 
a definite mileage that must be improved by the county before any 
change may be made or new roads added to the system. The re¬ 
maining roads are placed in the local or township systems. Each 
local system is under the direction of the board of trustees and the 
township road superintendent, who is charged with certain defi¬ 
nite duties among which is the continuous dragging of the roads, 
for which a non-divertible drag fund is levied by the townships. 
It might be interesting to many of you to know that under this 
division of county and township systems, that in some of the coun¬ 
ties where the supervisors, backed by a certain per cent of public 
sentiment, have resisted the operation of this law, the townships 
have gone ahead under the law and done better than the coun¬ 
ties have been able to do in the building and maintaining of better 
roads. The township trustees, in many instances, have shown the 
county boards the better way of building roads in the townships 
in the same county where the board of supervisors was resisting 
the new law. All bridges and all culverts on both systems are 
built by the board of supervisors. The State Highway Com¬ 
mission has general supervisory powers over both county and town¬ 
ship boards, with power to enforce provisions of the law. All officials 
from the State highway commissioners to the local road superintend¬ 
ents are bonded officers, and responsible under these bonds for the 
performance of their duty. The whole frame work of the law is 
founded upon one general principle, that is the fixing of responsi¬ 
bility for each and every bit of work that is to be done in the con¬ 
struction and maintenance of adequate primary and secondary 
highway systems. Without going into the details of the opera¬ 
tions and considering the fact that the law has only been in opera¬ 
tion for one year, and that many problems must be met in the 
future in an administrative scheme that reaches down to the most 
unimportant road official, the following is a summary of the results 
which are being accomplished under the policy of State control with¬ 
out State aid: 

First: Each mile of road, each culvert and each bridge is under 
the immediate supervision of some one man who is responsible 
on his bond for the proper condition of that particular item. If 
this official fails to perform his duties an appeal may be taken to the 
Highway Commission, which has full power and authority to enforce 
the provisions of the law. 

Second: The road work has all been divided into certain definite 
classes and plans have been standardized for each class of work 
throughout the ninety-nine counties. For example, the profiles 
and sections for permanent road grading are made up in exactly the 
same form in each of the ninety-nine counties. 


DISCUSSION 


127 


Third: Every piece of permanent road work is approved by the 
district engineers of the Highway Commission so that the same 
sections, maximum grades and finished product are secured so far 
as the topographical formation of the counties will permit. 

Fourth: Culvert and bridge plans have been standardized. 
Standard plans and specifications are supplied to all of the coun¬ 
ties by the commission. The adoption of uniform standardized 
plans is resulting in a more satisfactory class of work at lower 
prices. 

Fifth: The system is predicated upon the appointment of a cap¬ 
able county engineer. The commission has the power of removal 
if the engineer fails to carry on his work efficiently. Already there 
have been changes in a number of counties in the interests of efficiency. 
This means that eventually there will be a strong class of county 
engineers who have broad constructive duties to perform. 

Sixth: A uniform system of records and cost keeping and blanks 
have been supplied by the commission to all of the counties and 
townships, and each year a detailed report will be made by' the 
county engineer of all the expenditures of road and bridge moneys 
in each county. 

This law is essentially an earth road and permanent bridge measure. 
Within the funds available a large mileage of gravel surfaced roads 
can also be constructed. Some few stretches of the more permanent 
types will be built, but the system so far provides mainly for earth 
roads and permanent waterways. For a State such as Iowa, which 
has a fairly uniform distribution of population and in which the 
wealth is also quite equally distributed, there has suddenly come a 
demand for a large mileage of roads that will not only serve the 
market purposes but the intercounty needs as well. There are regis¬ 
tered in the State over one hundred and ten thousand automobiles. 
This traffic alone has created a demand for and a sentiment in favor 
of improved roads, but-the demand is for a large mileage rather than 
a small mileage of more permanent types of road surfaces. Un¬ 
der these conditions the policy of State control without State aid 
it is believed will secure these results quickly. Whether a policy 
of State aid is adopted or not, under the present system there is 
being built up an organization which will be capable of handling 
the more expensive types of road construction if the State con¬ 
cludes to establish the policy of State aid appropriations and ap¬ 
propriates large sums for permanent road construction. If this 
policy is not adopted, then permanent road construction will be 
developed in districts, and under this plan State control, issuing 
proper standards of materials and methods and efficient local engi¬ 
neering, will justify State control without State aid by the results 
obtained. [Applause.] 

The Chaikman: The meeting will now adjourn until 10 o’clock 
tomorrow morning. 


128 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


November 11, 10 a.m. 

Mr. Joseph W. Hunter in the Chair 

The Chairman : The convention will please come to order. 
We will take up the program for the session. I want to say in 
this connection that I regret very much that Mr. Bigelow, State 
Highway Commissioner of Pennsylvania was unable to attend the 
session of the Congress. He has, however, sent me to represent 
him and in opening up this meeting I have a few remarks to make 
along the line of the subject that he was to take up, namely, con¬ 
struction and maintenance. I certainly appreciate the honor of 
having the privilege of being at this Congress and attending its 
sessions. 

A twofold subject, any one part of which is a subject in itself, a 
proper treatment and presentation of which would require more 
than the allotted time for the presentation of such a paper. 

First of all is the proper location of the road or highway that 
is to be improved, then comes the drainage and the proper con¬ 
struction of the subgrade or foundation. With these two requisites 
properly taken care of, the balance of the construction work is a 
matter of detail. Without proper drainage and the proper con¬ 
struction of the subgrade it is useless to construct or erect the road 
bed. Many contractors are beginning to realize that it pays them 
much better to give more attention to the proper drainage and con¬ 
struction of the subgrade of the road than to hurry through with 
this portion of the work than to have to go back and do the work 
over because of the failure of the metal and surfacing has been 
placed thereon. No building that is intended to be permanent will 
stand long on a poor or shaky foundation. 

The work of maintenance is the larger and broader field, while 
the problems in construction are many, yet most of them have been, 
and others will be readily solved. But maintenance work is newer 
and the problems more varied, and on the whole of more impor¬ 
tance; of course, much depends on the material used in the construc¬ 
tion of the road, particularly in the surfacing. As eternal vigilance 
is the price of liberty, so is eternal vigilance or constant watch¬ 
fulness necessary in the maintenance of any reconstructed or im¬ 
proved stone road. The historic stitch that saves nine means in 
road maintenance a shovel full of stones here, a shovel full of earth 
removed or placed, at the proper time, a ditch or culvert cleaned 
out or opened up. It costs less to properly and constantly main¬ 
tain a road or highway than to neglect it, allowing it to become 
worn out and then resurfacing it. 

The maintenance of the improved roads in Pennsylvania is being 
done by the State Highway Department with its own equipment and 
labor, at less cost than by any other method. The question of 
securing sufficient labor at the proper time has been a serious prob¬ 
lem and will continue to be so until a sufficient number of laborers 


PROCEEDINGS 


129 


can be employed continually. With such a body of trained men, 
better results can be obtained at less cost. 

The maintenance of the 8000 miles of State highways, some of 
which are improved stone roads, but the majority of which are 
earth roads, is under the care of a maintenance engineer, and fifty 
superintendents; as is the maintenance of about 1500 miles of State 
aid roads. 

In addition to the above work the State Highway Department 
was given by an act of assembly at the 1913 session, general super¬ 
vision of upwards of 80,000 miles of earth roads. These roads are 
primarily under the care of three men, who are designated as a Board 
of Township Supervisors. These men are elected for a term of six 
years, one being elected every two years, this making a continuing 
board. 

The writer was under the provision of the act appointed by the 
State Highway Commission to organize and take charge of the 
Bureau of Township Highways. 

The first step taken was to get in touch with more than 4600 su¬ 
pervisors of the State by forming them into 66 county organiza¬ 
tions under the provisions of an act of assembly which authorized 
the formation of such associations. Each association has its own 
officers, by-laws and rules which provide for one to four meetings 
per year. 

At each of these meetings information was furnished to and in¬ 
structions given to the supervisors, rules and regulations which the 
supervisors are required to observe were adopted, a uniform system 
of accounting established, all books and forms being furnished by the 
State; bulletins of instructions prepared and sent out, an engineer¬ 
ing corps organized for the purpose of making surveys upon requests 
of townships that desired to change the grade of a road or to recon¬ 
struct an earth road as a stone, brick or bituminous road; also to 
stake out bridges, plans for which are made by the Bridge Depart¬ 
ment. Surveys, bridge plan and all work done for township is at the 
expense of the State. Upward of fifty road surveys have been 
made and two hundred and fifty bridge and culvert plans have 
been furnished in less than a year. 

Upon compliance with the provisions of the law and with rules 
and regulations of the State Highway Department, each town¬ 
ship is entitled to receive 50 per cent of the amount collected in 
cash, the work tax has been abolished, for the maintenance of the earth 
road, and in the maintenance of bridges, or in the reconstruction of 
earth roads as stone or brick or bituminous roads, or in the recon¬ 
struction of bridges, provided that the sum to be paid by the State 
shall not exceed $20 per mile. 

The total amount collected and expended by the several town¬ 
ships in the State for the year 1913 as shown by the annual reports 
of the several Boards of Township Supervisors is $5,410,424.27. 
About 13 per cent of this amount was expended for collecting and 


130 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


disbursing. The board of supervisors serve without compensation 
but are allowed their necessary expenses. Hereafter township super¬ 
visors must show that they have expended for some permanent im¬ 
provement of their roads a sum equal in amount to the sum received 
from the State. 

This hasty sketch has been given to show that Pennsylvania is 
now starting in the right direction to obtain the improvement of 
the earth roads in the State. Because of the information furnished 
and advice given a noticeable improvement has been made in many 
sections of the State. There has been some antagonism shown on 
the part of the few township supervisors, but the great majority of 
them are in favor of the changed method and new system. 

Good township government is seldom obtained on purely party 
lines. Party politics should not be allowed to enter into the or¬ 
ganization of any State, County or Township Highway Depart¬ 
ment. Get the best men possible from your home State, county or 
township if practicable, but get good practical men, no matter where 
they may come from. 

While the Pennsylvania State Highway Department employees 
are not under civil service, yet it is the rule of the commissioner 
that the man who has shown proficiency is the man who is retained 
and promoted. More than a majority of the division engineers have 
been with the department for about nine years, some of them have 
been promoted to maintenance engineers. Assistants to division 
engineers have been made division engineers and their places filled 
by promoting transitmen, and so along the whole line. Of the fifty 
superintendents of State highways, but few are engineers. They 
were selected from among men who had been supervisors and from 
among others who had some practical knowledge of road work, some 
changes had to be made until the superintendents, as a whole, are a 
good practical lot of men. Many of the inspectors of construction 
work are others than engineers, in fact, some of them make better 
inspectors than the engineers, they being more practical and seem to 
use their common sense to better advantage. Anyhow, about 90 
per cent of road work is common sense. 

Much can be gained by having at least an annual meeting of 
all the men in the employ of a State Plighway Department, a semi¬ 
annual meeting, perhaps would be better. It is coming together, 
the touching of elbows, the exchange of thoughts, the discussion of 
methods that make for the efficiency of the whole organization, and 
help many a timid fellow over a hard place. The old motto “In 
unity there is strength” still stands, and will for all times. 

The Chairman: The first paper on the program is “Rights of 
Way,” by Austin B. Fletcher, State Highway Engineer of Cali¬ 
fornia. This paper will be read by Mr. Sohier, Chairman of the 
Massachusetts Highway Commission. 


RIGHTS OF WAY 


131 


Mr. Sohier: I am so accustomed in Georgia to your not know¬ 
ing who I am or quite who I represent that I feel perfectly at home 
in representing Mr. Fletcher of California, because he originally 
came from Massachusetts and served with me. He has a topic that 
will interest everybody who is interested in highways. Most of 
the subjects interest only a few; dirt roads, sand clay roads, macadam 
roads and various bituminous macadam roads and pavements only 
interest people who have money enough to build those kinds of 
pavements, and most of us in this country have to be satisfied for 
some years to come with the well maintained, well graded dirt roads, 
but the right of way is totally different. Men may come and men 
may go, but if the right of way is not sufficient for all future time, 
then you as the highway commissioners have been recreant in your 
duty. 

RIGHTS OF WAY 

By Austin B. Fletcher 
State Highway Engineer of California 

Adequate “ rights of way” of “ locations” are of prime importance 
in any highway system and too little attention has been given to 
this feature of highway work hitherto. 

In the mad haste to get the roads built so that the automobile 
enthusiasts may use them “while they are yet alive,” we are prone 
to forget that the highway location is the one really permanent fea¬ 
ture of the road work. 

The time to secure proper locations for the roads, and widths 
sufficient to serve all purposes for long years to come, is now. If 
we wait until some future day to correct improper locations, and 
to secure suitable widths of rights of way when we have more leisure, 
we will have wasted much money in pavements constructed and the 
land needed will cost much more and will be more difficult to acquire. 

It goes without saying that all land owners are more complacent 
in giving up portions of their property to the public before the 
improvements are begun than at any time afterward. 

In some of the older States the people came long before “section- 
alization” by the government was thought of but in the Middle 
West and on the Pacific Coast, most of the land was divided years 
ago “checkerboard” fashion by the government surveyors. 

The highways in the older States were laid out, or in most cases, 
simply grew where the travel wanted to go but in the flat prairie 
land of the west, and even in the Pacific Coast valleys, the roads 
were often, if not generally, laid out straddling the section lines, the 
center of the right of way being usually coincident with the section 
line. This plan had the merit of lessening the area of land deducted 
for road purposes from the holding of an owner by making his ad¬ 
joining neighbor provide one-half of the land required for the roadway. 

This method of road location often proves to be an embarrass- 


132 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


ment to the present-day road builder since this time-honored recti¬ 
linear scheme does not fit the present needs. Centers of population 
often times have not occurred in conformity to such a plan; often 
the railroads have determined the location of the towns. In such 
cases it is desirable, considering the volume of “ through travel” 
in motor cars and trucks, to construct the roads in the most direct 
lines possible. This often entails rights of way running diagonally 
across the sections, “cuts up” land holdings and makes trouble 
generally for the right-of-way department. 

But when the rectilinear plan has been carried still farther and the 
land owners, to conserve particularly good areas for agricultural 
purposes, have had in times past enough influence to cause the 
county authorities to discontinue or vacate portions of ways along 
the section lines and have introduced right angled turns into the 
half or even quarter section lines, then the engineer has a task worthy 
of his mettle to secure a proper location for his improved road. 

And if the road be in an orange grove section, his joy is indeed 
complete. 

The writer knows of a main paved road in one of the California 
counties which has at least ten right angled turns in it in a distance 
of about 20 miles and this road passes through no town or city and 
is practically level. In planning their new highway system several 
years ago, that county gave up as hopeless the task of securing a 
direct route in the locality referred to, so for many years to come 
all through travel over those 20 miles of beautifully paved highway 
must be subjected to the dangerous right angled turns and to the 
unnecessarily increased length. 

There is reason in cities and other centers of population for ways 
laid out in rectilinear fashion. In the open country, there is no 
excuse for planning a new highway system along such lines. Land 
should be condemned if the owners will not donate it. 

There should be as direct a line between important centers as the 
topographical conditions will permit. 

Assuming that the best alignment for the highway has been 
adopted taking into consideration the factors of topography, climate 
and traffic needs, present and prospective, the next question con¬ 
fronting the highway engineer is the width of right of way. 

It is certainly desirable that in any highway system the right of 
way be of uniform width but as a practical matter, each link in the 
system must be considered by itself. Near the centers of popula¬ 
tion it is obvious that the pavement and the rights of way must 
be wider than in remote rural communities, sparsely settled. 

It is the writer’s opinion, however, that for a minimum width 
of right of way 50 feet is none too much and that wherever possible, 
a width of 60 feet is the least that should be secured, even in sparsely 
settled localities. 

It is inevitable that street railway, electric light and power, gas, 
telephone, and telegraph companies will at some time clamor for 


RIGHTS OF WAY 


133 


locations in the highway, and although too little attention has thus 
far been paid to the matter, tree planting and other landscape treat¬ 
ment of our country highways will have to be provided for. 

In many of the older sections of the country right of way problems 
are not serious affairs. Ways have been established there, well 
defined and traveled, for many years, and right of way improvements 
consist chiefly in rectifying the side lines of locations where abutting 
land owners have encroached successfully under the “open adverse 
possession” statutes which apply in some of the States. 

But in many localities, the acquisition of necessary easements of 
way becomes as important a factor in the plan and progress of 
highway work as the road work itself. 

In the more sparsely settled communities, roads have been built 
following lines of least resistance, in the valleys the “ sectionalized” 
land lines, and in the hills wherever the ranchers could best spare 
it. Accordingly, when modern road building methods are invoked, 
it becomes necessary to alter meandering and precipitous roads by 
straightening, widening, and improving the gradients. The needed 
lights of way for these purposes must be acquired. 

This feature of the work is particularly annoying to the highway 
engineer. His desire is to press forward the best line in the best 
way in the best time. When he is confronted by a hostile, reluctant 
or indifferent land owner, the engineer usually loses his patience. 

It is not alone in cases of new rights of way that there is litigation, 
but frequently old surveys do not exactly coincide with existing ways, 
many of which in course of usage have become winding and irregu¬ 
lar, and consequently additional land has to be acquired to widen, 
straighten or alter them. 

Owners often build fences or cultivate up to the used portion of 
the ways and resist the shifting of the lines and delay the progress 
of the work. In many cases much time is lost where owners who 
have allowed people to pass and re-pass in vehicles without objec¬ 
tion for years, assert adverse claims and work must be delayed to 
avoid complications. 

One has also the experience of attempting to use dedicated rights 
of way shown on plats recorded in times past but which have been 
entirely unused or allowed to fall into disuse, and then being con¬ 
fronted by claimants, with their attorneys, who contest the rights 
of the public therein. 

There are many unavoidable delays in obtaining rights of way, 
arising outside of the disputed rights of way mentioned. Even 
when the owners intend to be liberal they exact a great deal of 
information before signing the deeds of easement. The records have 
to be searched to ascertain the true owners of the lands affected; 
owners must be notified or corresponded with; draftsmen are asked 
to furnish sketches to many owners defining the rights of way desired; 
visits to the lands must be made and surveys inspected; minor 
adjustments of lines and fences must be settled upon; vacation pro- 


134 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


ceedings arranged and prepared, abandoning the old roads or por¬ 
tions of roads over property so as to leave no incumbrance on the 
same when the new road is located and built; co-owners must con¬ 
sult among themselves before executing deeds of easement; owner¬ 
ships involved in probate proceedings or title litigation must be 
searched and a good title to the roads acquired out of the confusion, 
and there are other details ad infinitum. 

These many difficulties have led, in the writer’s western experi¬ 
ence in highway work, to the employment of the subtle right-of-way 
man, who needs be a psychologist as well as a philosopher. His 
chief duty consists in attempting to wheedle the often-times contrary 
land owners into signing the needed conveyances and to convince 
them, usually, that their duty to the public lies in giving their prop¬ 
erty gratis. Such an employee becomes a very important member 
of the organization. His troubles are many. 

In addition to the “ right-of-way man” and his assistants in the 
California work, the help and advice of an attorney learned in emi¬ 
nent domain practice has been had who devotes all of his time to 
the highway work and whose principal activities are in right of way 
matters. The writer takes this opportunity of acknowledging the 
assistance of Mr. Charles C. Carleton, attorney to the California 
highway commission, in the preparation of this paper. 

In many jurisdictions, if the deeds cannot be acquired by diplo¬ 
matic methods, war must be declared in the courts, and the high¬ 
way board must desist from its efforts to promptly furnish the 
community with necessary thoroughfares until the courts finally 
determine that the litigious land owners’ holdings may be entered 
upon. 

There is a great lack of uniformity in the different States in the 
methods of paying or securing the payment of damages in taking 
property for public highway purposes. Such methods are of course 
regulated entirely by the constitutions and statutes of the respec¬ 
tive commonwealths. 

In some States it is not necessary for the authorities to pay for 
private property taken for public use in advance of the actual taking 
of possession. The property owner has been provided with a method 
of making his claim and with a tribunal constituted so that he may 
enforce his claim and obtain his damages therein. 

In such jurisdictions, highway work may speedily progress and 
the laying out of routes followed by immediate construction. The 
property owner, if he is dissatisfied with the original offer of pay¬ 
ment or the award made to him by the public authorities, may 
pursue his remedy in the appropriate court even though his land 
has already been occupied by the public. 

The public has the advantage of celerity in the progress of its 
enterprise; the land owner is protected by ultimate and adequate 
compensation for his injuries, and in one State, at least, he may 
wait until after the State highway is completed before he must file 


RIGHTS OF WAY 


135 


his petition for jury trial, it then being evident to all interested 
parties just what damage has been done, not only by reason of the 
land taken but by the road construction as well. 

But some States are so unfortunate as to be harassed in their 
public work by constitutions and statutes expressly requiring pre¬ 
payment before entry upon the land required for public use. 

The writer has had to do with highway activities in two States 
which have operated under each of these methods, the one having 
the right to take land necessary for public use in advance of satis¬ 
fying the owner; the other requiring that if the owner is not pleased 
with the offer made to him by the public authorities, he may stand 
back on his property with a shot gun and compel public officers to 
initiate proceedings in the court and remain off his property until 
after judgment has been obtained and the assessed damages paid 
into court for his use and benefit. 

In the first mentioned commonwealth, the welfare and progress 
of the people as a whole are superior to the notions and eccentrici¬ 
ties of an individual land owner. 

In the other State, the recalcitrant land owner may oppose and 
delay the vital needs of a city, county or State, as the case may be, 
and his immediate rights predominate over the requirements of the 
community at large. 

No rights of way, in States having regulations similar to the latter, 
can arbitrarily be taken by the people before the same, after a vast 
amount of red tape, have been acquired by donation, purchase or 
condemnation; that is, a taking cannot be made and compensation 
and damages adjusted afterwards. 

Consequently obstinate land owners are able to “hold up” the 
community at large until it either pays the demands or contests the 
question of compensation and damages in trials, the latter usually 
requiring considerable time, particularly in the case of the belliger¬ 
ent or indifferent land owners residing in other States or foreign 
countries when long publications of summons are necessary before 
the suits may be commenced. The western States appear to be 
particularly oppressed by such roundabout methods of entering upon 
private property and installing improvements for the benefit and 
welfare of millions of people. 

For illustration, under such a system a large western land owner 
owning an area equal in size to an entire eastern State may be lux¬ 
uriously traveling abroad. A county has voted and issued bonds 
for a large amount to construct important highways. Before the 
great ranch can be entered upon, except for surveys, a correspond¬ 
ence must ensue between the public authorities and the land magnate. 
The owner declines to sign a conveyance and the people are compelled 
to commence proceedings in eminent domain against the absent 
owner. Before a trial can be had, summons must be published for 
sixty days, and then follow the tedious court proceedings. 

It usually happens that pugnacious land owners demand some 


136 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


exorbitant sum. The court may upon trial only allow a small per¬ 
centage of their original claim but during the pendency of the action 
an important artery of travel may be debarred. 

Such a system is absolutely hostile to progress; the people should 
be greater than the individual. 

The writer submits that at this time, when modern highway con¬ 
struction is becoming so active throughout the nation, it is apparent 
that there should be simplification in the constitutions and statutes 
relating to the subject of eminent domain, and that this Congress 
may render invaluable service in assisting to bring about so desir¬ 
able a result. 

Too much attention can be given to the title technicalities of right 
of way activities. It has been an almost universal practice for 
public boards performing road work to obtain at great expense 
exhaustive abstracts of title to ascertain land ownerships. 

The writer has had under his supervision the acquisition of hun¬ 
dreds of miles of highway right of way in California where the secur¬ 
ing of rights of way could not be made much more difficult, complex 
or annoying, yet the purchase of expensive abstracts of title has 
been dispensed with. Out of hundreds of ownerships affected, not 
one serious complication has resulted from the following plan: 

When the field parties are making the original surveys, the chiefs 
of party usually inquire from the occupants of the land surveyed 
who the owners or those interested in the property may be. This 
gives a clue to the ownership. Thereafter, one of the staff visits 
the proper county offices and ascertains from the assessment rolls 
or the records who purport to be the owners. Deeds or agreements 
are then prepared, containing the proper descriptions, and it is very 
rare, indeed, that any objection has been made to the accuracy of 
the instrument submitted. 

By thus performing its own title searches, even though they may 
not have always been the most exact from a title lawyer’s stand¬ 
point, the authorities have saved thousands of dollars and have never 
had an injunction or ejectment proceeding instituted against them 
by objecting land owners. 

By taking a few remote chances of complaints, work, which would 
otherwise be hopelessly harassed and delayed in the performance 
of a highway project, may proceed. 

Furthermore, in most States, title may be obtained two ways by 
user or implied dedication by the passage of time. It has been the 
custom in California where the present traveled roads are wide 
enough for use and properly located, to place the monuments and 
build the pavements and assert jurisdiction thereover, the theory 
being that if the owner objects, the authority’s title being funda¬ 
mentally weak, the State can “condemn” as rapidly as the alleged 
owner can “oust.” 

The so-called State highways in the several States may be divided 
into at least two classes with regard to the control by the State of 


DISCUSSION 


137 


the roads after they are built, namely, those which are maintained 
by the State and over which the State assumes complete charge from 
property line to property line with the possible exception of the 
policing of the way, and those sometimes called State-Aid roads 
where the Commonwealth has little or nothing to do with the main¬ 
tenance of the roads and the burden is placed by law upon some 
subdivision of the State, usually the county. 

The writer has had to do only with the class of State highways 
first mentioned and he believes that the State ought to have as 
complete control as possible over its highways, State or otherwise. 
Such control, however, places a considerable burden upon the author¬ 
ity which administers the law. 

More is expected of a State organization, and rightly so, than of 
a county board. Its work must be done carefully and accurately. 
The surveys and plans of the State highways must be well made 
and no small part of the engineering costs is chargeable to the care¬ 
ful work needed in running out and establishing the right of way 
lines. 

In trying to establish old right of way lines in anticipation of high¬ 
way improvements, much difficulty is often experienced in finding 
any landmarks to indicate what the right of way really is, and the 
old surveys and plans often prove to be of little assistance. Often 
the roads to be taken over and built as State highways were laid 
out when the land was of little value and the surveys were carelessly 
made or the descriptions carelessly recorded. With the lapse of 
time buildings, trees, and other similar features, which formerly 
marked the location of the road, have entirely disappeared, and the 
traveled ways have shifted from place to place as the action of the 
elements or the whims of the travelers have directed. Fences, if 
they exist, have been so moved about that they in no way indicate 
the original fine of the road. 

In all State work with which the writer has had to do it has been 
the policy to fix the right of way lines on the ground by setting proper 
monuments into the soil to such a depth that they serve as markers 
for all time to come. 

In planning a new system of highways, careful plans should be 
made and permanent monuments set. Future generations will surely 
appreciate such records and the additional cost of this kind of work 
should not forbid. 

The Chairman: The discussion of this paper will be opened by 
Mr. W. S. Gearhart, Highway Engineer of Kansas. 

Mr. Gearhart: Properly located public roads mean so much 
for the safety of the traveling public, economy in transportation, 
and the reduction of the expense of up-keep on highways, that all 
who are interested in road improvement will be very grateful indeed 
to Mr. Fletcher for the valuable suggestions in his excellent paper on 
“ Rights of Way.” 


138 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


The time to solve the right of way problem, as Mr. Fletcher 
states, is now. No part of the highway is so permanent as its loca¬ 
tion and after the location has been firmly established in a certain 
place no part of the road is so hard to improve as the right of way. 

The greater part of Mr. Fletcher’s paper has to do with the prob¬ 
lems involved where the State Highway Department selects the 
rights of way for roads on which the State proposes to make exten¬ 
sive improvements, and the methods described are not unlike the 
best railroad practice, except possibly in the matter of land titles, 
which the railroad companies are very particular about, for reasons 
which are evident. 

The writer has not been connected with State highway work of 
this kind, but on railroad location has had all the experiences inci¬ 
dent to facing a double barreled shot gun and recalcitrant land owners. 

The roads that straddle the section lines are the ones most of 
the good road advocates in the Central West are especially inter¬ 
ested in, for like Mr. Lincoln stated concerning the common people, 
there are so many of them. Too many miles of roads have been 
opened in these States. This is particularly so in Kansas, except 
in the western third of the State, where there is a highway on prac¬ 
tically every section line, and in many cases the half section lines 
have been opened. 

With such an established checker-board system there is little the 
engineer can do in the matter of new road locations without specific 
authority except to agitate and educate and to parallel the railroads 
until the State begins to participate in road construction and main¬ 
tenance. 

Those living outside the prairie country no doubt wonder how 
the highways came to be located astride these imaginary lines. The 
Central West was surveyed, mapped and the corner stones set, by the 
United States Government at an early date, and the country was 
divided into rectangular counties, townships six miles square, sec¬ 
tions one mile square, and quarter sections. This provided an 
easy, practical, accurate, convenient method of making the surveys, 
fixing the boundary lines and recording land titles, and all deeds 
at the present time refer to the township, range and section. It 
also had the further advantage of dividing the farms into the most 
practical form and it is only natural that the owners of these farms 
should insist that the land be not cut up by diagonal rights of way 
—hence the section line roads. 

The trails, military highways and other early roads of Kansas 
were located by the old plainsmen, and the United States mili¬ 
tary engineers, on the most direct routes and on the best ground 
available, as Mr. Fletcher is insisting that the State roads in Cali¬ 
fornia shall be today. 

One of the territorial road laws of Kansas, enacted in 1860, reads 
in part as follows: 


DISCUSSION 


139 


That each territorial road shall be laid out from the place of beginning to 
the place of termination on the most direct route, where suitable ground can 
be found to establish the same. 

In 1861 the Legislature of Kansas enacted a law providing for 
the establishment of forty-five State roads covering all sections of 
the State. The act specified the cities or towns which each of the 
several roads were to connect, and named the three men who were 
to act as commissioners in locating each road. The commissioners 
were required to locate these roads upon the best possible ground 
consistent with the most direct and practical route and to as nearly 
as possible avoid in all cases making two or more angles where good 
ground for a road could be had upon a direct course with but one 
angle. 

This was a good beginning, and at the present time few States 
in the Union have statutes governing highway location so com¬ 
mendable as these. Unfortunately, however, in 1861, during the 
same session of the legislature at which some of these excellent high¬ 
way provisions were enacted, a special law was passed declaring all 
the section lines in Brown County to be the centers of the public 
highways whenever any road was opened for traffic by order of the 
coimty commissioners. 

This measure looked innocent, no doubt, for it was entirely a local 
proposition, and applied only to Brown County. The necessary 
road surveys and views were expensive, at least they were considered 
so at that time, even though the cost probably did not exceed $5 
per mile. In one early statute this expense was limited to S3 per 
mile. This section line road measure was no doubt enacted in the 
name of economy, as most of the other blunders in highway improve¬ 
ment are made. 

In 1871 the section lines in fourteen other counties were declared 
to be the centers of the public highways and from that time on the 
roads have been laid out almost exclusively astride the section lines, 
regardless of the proper location, hills, character of soil, safety of 
traffic, first cost maintenance expense, or convenience or economy 
of traffic, and now only in rare instances is any part of the original 
trails or territorial or State roads left, except such as follow the section 

lines. 

In the cattle country of the extreme western part of the State 
where there are few fences most of the roads used today follow the 
natural locations on the most direct routes on the high ground. 
These roads, however, are not legally laid out, and strange as it 
may seem, when they are officially opened they are almost always 
bisected by a section line. ... 

All highways at the present time are laid out on petition to the 
county commissioners by twelve free holders who live in the imme¬ 
diate vicinity of the road. The petition must specify the place of 
beginning, the intermediate points, if any, and the place of termina¬ 
tion of such road. The statute provides that the width of the right 


140 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


of way shall not be more than sixty feet or less than forty, the exact 
width to be determined by the viewers at the time of establishing 
the road. 

If the county commissioners pass favorably upon the petition they 
may act as a board of viewers or they may appoint three viewers 
to definitely locate the road. Generally the appointed viewers have 
no interest whatever in the road or desire it to be located on a cer¬ 
tain section line, and in either case the interests of the individual 
land owners prevail at the expense of the public welfare. The 
statutes do not now require the highways to be located on the section 
lines, but public sentiment does, which is just as bad, if not worse. 

The statutory provisions for locating highways in the other Cen¬ 
tral West States are not, and have not been, unlike those of Kansas, 
and the evolution of the section line roads has been the same, always 
selfish and at the expense of the public. 

Some of the advantages of the section line roads are: The elimi¬ 
nation of local strife in establishing locations; little or no trouble 
to get a road as compared with the method of petitioning and view¬ 
ing; low cost for views and surveys; relatively low damages for 
rights of way, since such a road would generally be located along 
the side of the farm instead of dividing it; the lessening of the area 
of land deducted from the holding of any owner by requiring his 
adjoining neighbor to furnish half the roadway, as stated by Mr. 
Fletcher; the elimination of sharp angles in the fields; greater ease 
in farm operations in the fields adjoining the highways, this is es¬ 
pecially true where large machinery is used; the facility with which 
strangers can follow the highways; and most important, a majority 
of the people believe that the road should be there, and that no 
land can be spared for highways any place else. 

Probably no enumeration of the disadvantages of the section line 
roads would include all the objections. However, some of the worst 
ones are: The resulting large number of unnecessary excessively 
steep grades, expensive bridges and culverts, dangerous railroad 
crossings, and sharp angle turns; the practical difficulties in reloca¬ 
tions; the increased distance around the two sides of a right angle 
triangle as compared with the length of the direct road located on 
the hypothenuse of the triangle; the zig-zag traveling or sail boat 
like tacking necessary to reach any given point except, possibly, 
due east, west, north or south; the bad soil conditions often encoun¬ 
tered; the high first cost, and expensive maintenance; increased trans¬ 
portation expenses due to the longer haul and extra time required 
to reach market; nine times out of ten the section line is not located 
where the road should be and the highway that straddles the sec¬ 
tion line is nearly always located in the interest of the individual 
instead of the public. 

The practice of section line road location has been followed so 
long that it is now not uncommon to see all other considerations 
wholly disregarded. The writer, while employed on some drainage 


DISCUSSION 


141 


work straightening a stream, met an old lady who was opposed to 
the improvement and she gave as her reason that if God Almighty 
had not wanted the stream located just where it was He would 
have put it some place else. A good many people seem to have the 
same opinion of the government made section lines and the location 
of the highways, as evidenced by the following examples: 

A mile of road was recently opened in the rolling prairie country 
of Kansas on an east and west section line. This mile of road crosses 
the same stream three times and a more scenic route could probably 
not be found in any White City. The expense for bridges was 
about S5500 and for grading $2500, or a total of about $8000 to 
make the road passable. The highway benefited only four men, 
whose property is not worth as much as it cost to open the road. 
By establishing one and one-half miles of north and south road 
only one bridge would have been needed and the same purpose would 
have been served at a total expense of about $2000. The writer 
advised the county officials in this case to buy the farms and rent 
them for pasture rather than fasten upon the county indefinitely 
the maintenance of such an abominable road. 

In 1905 a $2500 bridge was built on a section line and $1000 was 
expended for grading. Then the bridge and the work was aban¬ 
doned and it has never been used, for it will require an additional 
expenditure of $3000 to obtain a 13 per cent approach grade. By 
placing the bridge at the ford on the old natural road only 225 feet 
off the section line a very good road with a 6 per cent grade could 
have been had at a total cost of not to exceed $2500. 

Less than four miles from the bridge referred to above another 
$1800 section line bridge was built against the face of a rock bluff. 
The east approach has never been made and on the west end at 130 
feet from the end of the bridge the rock bluff is forty-two feet above 
the bridge floor. About $150 was spent in quarrying rock to make 
an approach and then the work and the bridge was abandoned, for 
the only practical way to make a road at all on this section line at 
this point would be to construct a tunnel. By moving the bridge 
120 feet to the old ford a good crossing and a water grade around 
the bluff could have been had without any change in the present road. 
The distance around the bluff is practically the same as over it. 

Where the railroads run diagonally across the sections it is not 
uncommon to see two unnecessary, dangerous, highway grade cross¬ 
ings within a quarter of a mile and often much closer. Apparently 
it Dever occurs to the viewers that in such cases the highways should 
parallel the railroad. 

On account of the local influences and the lack of proper infor¬ 
mation the average road viewers cannot handle this problem of 
rights of way alone, satisfactorily. The State Highway Depart¬ 
ment should approve the location of all main roads before they are 
improved and until this is required by statute there is little or no 
hope for much favorable change in the States where the highways 


142 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


ride the section lines except by paralleling the railroads. The 
streams are too crooked to make it practical to parallel them. 

The Chairman: We will proceed with the next paper on the 
program, “Drainage Structures,” by Mr. W. E. Atkinson, State 
Highway Engineer of Louisiana. 

DRAINAGE STRUCTURES 

By W. E. Atkinson 
State Highway Engineer of Louisiana 

Drainage structures like many other features of highway construc¬ 
tion require the consideration of many factors in determining the 
type and character of construction adaptable to any particular loca¬ 
tion, or in determining a uniform standard or design to be used 
throughout any particular proposed highway project. Inasmuch as 
road construction together with drainage structures are more or less 
problems to be solved by every State or highway commission to 
meet local conditions, I shall not attempt to set forth any rules or 
plans governing the type or construction of all drainage structures, 
but merely present to you some of the general methods, factors and 
policies governing the construction of such drainage structures in 
Louisiana, under the supervision of its highway department. 

In determining the length of bridges and spans between bents 
and piers and the size of culverts, consideration is given to the 
maximum rainfall, amount of run off, average slope of ground of 
drainage area, seepage, etc., as included in the same factors govern¬ 
ing similar structures under railroad construction. After determin¬ 
ing the required opening for waterway, the factor governing the 
required strength or carrying power of the structure is determined, 
so far as it is possible, upon the maximum load the structure is likely 
to be subjected during its bonded life. As to the bonded life of 
structures of this character, it is figured that they should last until 
bonds or taxes voted for the construction of same are retired, all 
structures being computed, however, to safely carry a minimum live 
load of not less than ten tons, plus 50 per cent impact and a factor 
of safety of four. 

It has been the policy of the highway commission of Louisiana 
to construct, whever funds and conditions will permit, permanent 
structures and adopt uniform and standard plans for bridges and 
culverts for any particular highway project, however, oftentimes 
different designs are necessary to meet existing conditions, the type 
and design of bridges, whether they be of wood, concrete, or masonry, 
etc., are determined largely by the amount of funds available, and 
the character and nature of soil for foundation. 

Due to the alluvial character of the soil, with the exception of 
some sections in the northern part of the State, there are instances 


DRAINAGE STRUCTURES 


143 


where it is not safe nor economical to construct the arch type of 
concrete bridges; even with some of our girder and slab bridges, it 
oftentimes becomes necessary to provide pile foundations for the 
piers, abutments and wing walls. In some places it is necessary 
these piles be of concrete instead of wood on account of many recla¬ 
mation projects, now under way, lowering the ground water which 
would become detrimental to the latter type of construction. 

We have found it advantageous and economical to provide, where 
conditions will permit, a uniform design for all drainage structures, 
especially for those of concrete construction, that the contractor 
may use the same drainage forms over and over, permitting thereby 
much lower bids per cubic yard on such work than otherwise under 
a system of non-uniform standard designs for such structures, and 
in addition, many times permitting, without greater cost, greater 
waterway opening than theoretically computed, resulting in a larger 
factor of safety, and often providing for some unprecedented rain¬ 
fall or cloudburst not anticipated. In addition to concrete bridges, 
the department is building many wooden bridges, both of creosoted 
and uncreosoted materials, this character of construction predomi¬ 
nating in some parishes due to lack of funds for more permanent 
construction. 

The department has installed several types of culverts, that of 
vitrified clay, cement, concrete, cast iron, wood, corrugated galvan¬ 
ized iron, etc., the type of construction being governed by the avail¬ 
able funds and topographical features together with character of 
soil encountered in foundation, however, where practicable, concrete 
has always been recommended. 

At many places, however, we have found it impracticable and not 
economical to use concrete culverts and others of a monolithic char¬ 
acter, especially in some of the bayous and coulees. In one place 
in particular, it is recalled, where the foundation in one bayou was 
so poor that a strip 2 inches by 2 inches by 16 feet was pushed down 
its full length in the bottom of the bayou, and could have been 
pushed farther if the strip had been longer. This bayou was 250 
feet wide across the top and 25 feet deep, and the only opening 
necessary was that of an equalizer with an area of some 28 square 
feet to be filled over with earth, thereby making a bridge of earth 
and of an equalizer. The equalizer installed at this particular loca¬ 
tion, was a ten gauge 6 feet diameter corrugated galvanized iron 
pipe culvert. The entire cost of this combination bridge, if it may 
be so termed, amounted to $2,059.27, including an item of $215.73 
for riprap, whereas to have bridged the bayou with concrete, or to 
have attempted to build a concrete culvert, would have made the 
cost very much in excess of this amount. The only weak point I 
see, relative to this construction, is the more or less uncertainty as 
to the lasting qualities of the culvert from corrosion. This is stated 
merely to show some of the conditions that have to be met in Louisiana. 

Due to debris, drift wood, and other extraneous matter, our high- 


144 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


way department has adopted a policy not to install any culverts 
of less than 18 inches in diameter where possible, it preferring that 
they should be not less than 24 inches in diameter. 

No doubt many of you will take issue with me on this point, but 
my experience has been that culverts of these sizes have proven 
more satisfactory and given better service, requiring less maintenance 
both for road and culvert at such places than when culverts of less 
diameter are used, even though the smaller culverts are ample to 
carry the water, due to the ineffectiveness of the latter from drift 
choking and filling them up. 

I have yet to find my first culvert that is too large for the amount 
of water and rainfall to be drained, but many have I found that 
were too small. 

The Chairman: The discussion of the paper just read was to 
have been opened by Mr. S. D. Foster, Chief Engineer of the State 
Highway Department of Pennsylvania. In his absence Mr. Willis 
Whited, Engineer of Bridges of Pennsylvania State Highway De¬ 
partment will open the discussion. 

Mr. Whited: The paper just read is very interesting to me, 
but the conditions in Louisiana are very much different from those 
in Pennsylvania. In Pennsylvania we have a smaller rainfall than 
in Louisiana, but we have steep slopes so that the water has great 
velocity sometimes and we seldom have any great difficulty about 
foundations. Where we do have soft foundations like those men¬ 
tioned, it is very common practice for us to build a rectangular 
culvert and make the bottom strong enough to distribute the load 
over the whole of the bottom. That not only checks the erosion 
due to the water flowing through, but also distributes the founda¬ 
tion load enough so that there is very little difficulty about settle¬ 
ment. In that case of course the culvert would have to be rein¬ 
forced longitudinally also, so that if the load was heavier in the 
middle it would not crack crossways. Now much has been written 
about the strength, stability, etc., and the proper loading of cul¬ 
verts, but comparatively little literature is available on the action 
of the water. A culvert has to perform two offices; it has to carry 
the traffic overhead and it has to carry the water under. Now in 
providing for that purpose we are very careful especially in Penn¬ 
sylvania where we have high velocity of water, to arrange it so 
that the water enters the culvert with as little deflection of the 
current and as little obstruction as possible. We usually flare 
or wing walls about 30 degrees from the line of the stream so that 
it acts really as a juttage and we have to put a wall down at the 
head, if it is soft ground, to prevent the water getting under it. 
We often pave the bed of it for the same purpose, but even with our 
assistant engineers I have some difficulty in persuading them to 
give the bottom of the culvert all the slope possible. Some of them 


GRADES AND EXCAVATIONS 


145 


insist on making it nearly level and then having the debris accumu¬ 
late on the underside where they can clean it out. I tell them, 
“Give it all the slope you can, give the other fellow the chance to 
take it up.” It is a good deal cheaper for the Highway Department 
if the other man clears away the driftwood and the debris than 
it is for the department to do it, and in doing so, there is also some 
difficulty occasionally in preventing serious erosion on the down 
stream side. We find the erosion due to water is usually much 
more severe on the down stream side than it is on the upstream 
side, so that we have to take more precautions with it. I have 
seen culverts with good paved bottoms grouted in and made in nice 
shape and the water gets to cutting a little on the downstream 
side, and then it cuts back and cuts back and I have known that to 
be cut down four feet, and half of that paving destroyed. But 
that is a thing that we preach to our men all the time, in season and 
out of season, to give the water as free an entrance as possible into 
the culvert, as rapid a passage through as possible and a safe exit 
after it gets out, in such a way that it will erode the soil as little 
as possible, and in that way we reduce the cost of maintenance, 
reduce the necessary size of the culvert and get much more satis¬ 
factory results all around. 

The Chairman: The next paper is by Mr. A. D. Williams, 
Chief Engineer State Roads Commission of West Virginia. 

GRADES AND EXCAVATIONS 

CONDITIONS DETERMINING MAXIMUM GRADES—METHODS 
AND COST OF GRADING AND EXCAVATING— 

ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS 

By A. D. Williams 

Chief Road Engineer State of West Virginia 

In the past two or three years stress has been laid upon the sub¬ 
ject of permanent roads. Many articles have been written bearing 
upon the various kinds of surfaces, but the ever-important subject 
of grade and excavation has received only passing notice. Yet the 
only permanent thing about a road is its grade and location. The 
various kinds of surface will yield to the actions of the elements 
and pass the march of time, but the road once established will be¬ 
come more fixed as the years go by, adding improvements and new 
property lines to bind it firmly in place. This makes more im¬ 
portant the engineering subject of our roads. The establishment of 
grades and location should be given the greatest consideration. 

THE MINIMUM GRADE 

The principal factor entering into the determination of a mini¬ 
mum grade is the question of sufficient drainage. Except on fills 


146 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


over 2 feet the minimum grade should not be less than three-tenths 
( T \) of 1 per cent and preferably not less than five-tenths ( 3 %) of 1 
per cent. 

THE MAXIMUM GRADE 

There are a number of factors that enter into the maximum 
grade, but, before attempting to locate any road or to establish any 
grade the engineer should make a thorough study of the territory 
to be developed by the proposed road giving due consideration to 
the following points: 

First. What will be the present and future demands of the terri¬ 
tory adjacent to the proposed improvement; 

Second. What are the possible developments in the territory 
from an industrial, agricultural, educational and social standpoint. 

Third. What part will the proposed road be of a general system 
of roads reaching to other communities and what will be the effect 
of the improvement on other sections; 

Fourth. The nature of traffic that the road will be called upon to 
take care of, making due allowance for development, considering 
the present and future tonnage; 

Fifth. The general direction in which the greatest amount of 
tonnage will be transported, the class of tonnage and the time neces¬ 
sary to move it in order to make it the most marketable; 

Sixth. The direction in which the ascending grade will be in 
comparison with the possible traffic demands; 

Seventh. The maximum load that a horse can pull based upon 
the length of grade and the time required to make the trip, from the 
standpoint of the horse and the time necessary to get the best re¬ 
sults for the kind of material the country will produce; 

Eighth. Consideration should always be given to climatic condi¬ 
tions and to the season that the roads will be required to take care 
of the heaviest traffic, as well as a study of the foothold for horse- 
drawn vehicles. The possible amount of frozen or icy weather should 
be noted in determining a maximum grade; 

Ninth. The class of material over which the road is to be made 
and the cost of construction on the longer distance compared with 
the steeper grade and shorter distance have a certain bearing upon 
the subject, because the most important subject in connection with 
the cost of roads on grades is that of maintenance which increases 
very rapidly with the increase of grade. Roughly speaking the 
destructive effect of violent and periodical storms is four times as 
great on a 5 per cent as on a level ground, and nine times as severe 
on a 10 per cent as on level grade. Thus if no other factors were to be 
considered on earth roads alone the cost of upkeep in a very few years 
would justify the elimination of bad grades; 

Tenth. The condition of the right-of-way and the possible chances 
for disposition of water and drainage are factors of much importance 
when considering the maximum grade, because on steeper grades the 


GRADES AND EXCAVATIONS 


147 


increasing velocity demands more drainage and greater skill in hand¬ 
ling the water, which, if kept on or near the road will soon de¬ 
stroy it. 

Eleventh. The consideration of a grade from the ascension is 
not the only angle of approach in the location of highway grades 
because important items enter into the descending grade that should 
be given as much, if not more, consideration than the ascending 
direction; 

Twelfth. A grade should not be steeper than a horse can descend 
safely in a trot; 

Thirteenth. A grade should not be steeper than a team can safely 
descend with a load that it can handle for ten hours under normal 
conditions, exerting its normal tractive force. 

Fourteenth. The amount of time necessary to descend a grade 
should be considered making due allowance for the maximum speed 
that can safely be used on that grade; 

Fifteenth. The highway engineer of today must remember 
that as time passes the motor traffic requirements of the public 
highway will be more and more exacting. Experiments as to gaso¬ 
line consumption and its efficiency on difficult grades and materials 
are now being conducted near Uniontown, Pennsylvania, by Mr. 
R. O. Gill, Experimental Engineer for the Chalmers Motor Com¬ 
pany of Detroit, Michigan. In this connection we have but little 
data. Some recent experiments made by Mr. H. Kerr Thomas and 
Mr. D. Ferguson of Buffalo, New York, for the Pierce-Arrow Motor 
Company, show that the class and kind of surface exert more influ¬ 
ence upon the motor-driven truck than the percentage of grade and 
that it requires practically the same tractive force on a 1 per cent 
grade in sand and loose stone to handle the same load as it does on a 
27 per cent grade on concrete, asphalt, new brick and first-class 
macadam. But observations of the speaker lead to the conclusion 
that grades of any length exceeding 5 or 6 per cent are not as sat¬ 
isfactory and as economical as lighter grades for motor traffic owing 
to the increased hazard, increased consumption of gasoline, and 
loss of power due to the resistance to gravity. The speaker’s ob¬ 
servation further concludes that in frozen or icy weather motor 
traffic is extremely hazardous on grades exceeding 10 per cent, and 
entirely unsafe on grades exceeding 16 per cent; 

Sixteenth. Grades crossing a summit should merge into each 
other by some form of vertical curve. The speaker has been ac¬ 
customed to using the following formula which proves satisfactory 
and practicable. Take the summit grade at e and a grade point 
100 feet on each side or any other desirable distance and by use of 
either one of the following formulas find the elevation at / which will 
be half-way between e and g, then by use of the formula find the 
offset from the tangent at each of the ordinates. This subtracted 
from the elevation of the ordinate will give the true elevation of the 
grade. 


148 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


By reference to Gillespie whose work contains about all we have 
upon tractive power of a horse, which embraces the experiments of 
Sir John McNeil, Sir Henry Parnell, and Mr. Cayffier, some of 
whose works are quoted by nearly every writer, we find that a horse 
traveling at the rate of two and one-half miles per hour can exert 
10 per cent of his weight, and travelling at the rate of four miles 
per hour, can exert 6 per cent of his weight. These observations 
prior to 1850 and just before the advent of the steam road into our 
field of engineering embrace about all the experiments we have 
excepting the work of Mr. E. B. McCormick of Kansas State Agri¬ 
cultural College and the works of Prof. J. H. Waters of the Uni¬ 
versity of Missouri, and other work by Mr. McCormick is now 
being done for the Office of Public Roads, at Washington. The 
speaker’s personal observations have shown that a horse for a lim¬ 
ited period can exert one-fourth and sometimes even greater percent¬ 
age of his weight, this depending in a measure upon the kind of shoes 
on the horse and the foothold on the grade. A horse on a road ma¬ 
terial that offers safe footing can be safely trotted down a 5 per cent 
grade, but cannot be trotted down this heavy a grade for any great 
length of time without injury by ‘‘jamming or stoving him up.” 
Therefore, the ruling grade should not exceed 5 per cent, if for a horse- 
drawn vehicle over which speed must be made on the descending 
grade because the average horse in walking down a grade will not 
make over four miles per hour, while he will trot twelve miles per 
hour, thus, from this standpoint, we can double the distance of the 
road and increase the time 33 J per cent. The speed of twelve miles 
per hour should not be undertaken down a grade of more than 3 per 
cent with a vehicle bearing any kind of a load. In ascending a 5 
per cent grade the capacity of the team is about four-tenths of 
its capacity on level ground and about one-fourth of its capacity 
on 10 per cent grade, on a loading for the same tractive exertion, 
but a point here that should not be forgotten is that for a short dura¬ 
tion a horse can exert from 25 to 40 per cent of his weight, thus 
doubling and quadrupling its normal tractive force and in this con¬ 
nection it is often economy, considering the financial condition of the 
community to put in a short piece of 6 and even 7 per cent grade, 
than to expend a large amount of money in making an exhaustive 
and expensive cut, especially so if the cut must be made at the 
expense of development in some other part of the community. One 
thing that should be borne in mind is that each year’s develop¬ 
ment of our country makes the chances for changing of grades and 
their elimination less possible, and that while the improvement 
of the surface of a road increases its tractive efficiency about 200 
per cent on level ground it only increases about one-fourth for a horse- 
drawn vehicle on a 10 per cent grade, thus money expended in de¬ 
creasing the grade within a reasonable amount of distance is the 
best possible investment. 

Then with these conclusions drawn and a decision as to the kind 


GRADES AND EXCAVATIONS 


149 


of surface that will possibly be placed upon the road at some future 
time, we are in position to determine what should be the maximum 
grade. 

METHODS AND COSTS OF GRADING AND EXCAVATING 

This is a machine age and wherever grading can be done by ma¬ 
chinery it is usually more economical. The following table based 
upon figures taken from different pieces of work is approximately 
correct to a wage scale of 15 cents per hour and capable super¬ 
vision. 


Picking 6 cts., Plowing 2 cts., Steam plowing 1.6 cts. per cubic yard. Hauling 
by wagon approximately 35 cts. per cubic yard. Hauling by trucks and tram 
14 cts. per cubic yard. 


COMPARATIVE COST PER CUBIC VARD FOR MOVING EARTH WITH 


INS¬ 

TANCES 

HAULED 

Wheel¬ 

barrow 

Drag or 
Slide 
Scraper 

No. 1 
Wheel 
Scraper 

No. 2 
Wheel 
Scraper 

Horse Cart 

Wagon 

Tractor 

and 

Trucks 

Grader 

Casting 

Over 

Bank 

Feet 










100 

10.057 

SO.090 

SO.100 

SO.100 

SO.056 

SO.095 

SO.080 

SO.022 


200 

0.114 

0.135 

0.130 

0.125 

0.068 

0.103 

0.080 



300 

0.170 

0.180 

0.160 

0.150 

0.080 

0.111 

0.080 



400 

0.230 

0.225 

0.190 

0.175 

0.090 

0.119 

0.080 



500 

0.285 

0.270 

0.220 

0.200 

0.101 

0.127 

0.080 



600 

0.342 

0.315 

0.250 

0.225 

0.112 

0.135 

0.080 



800 

0.457 

0.405 

0.310 

0.275 

0.135 

0.151 

0.080 



1000 

0.570 

0.495 

0.370 

0.325 

0.160 

0.167 

0.090 



1500 

0.857 

0.720 

0.520 

0.450 

0.214 

0.207 

0.090 



2000 

1.143 

0.945 

0.670 

0.575 

0.271 

0.247 

0.100 



3000 

1.713 

1.395 

0.970 

0.825 

0.388 

0.327 

0.100 



4000 

2.280 

1.845 

1.270 

1.075 

0.500 

0.407 

0.100 



Loading by hand 


0.050 

0.010 

0.010 

0.010 

0.130 

0.130 



0.100 


Loading by steam shovel 






0.060 

0.060 




0.060 


By a glance at the figures it will be seen that at 22 cents per yard 
or at the same cost for any given ratio the ratio cost distances are for 
wheelbarrow, 200 feet; drag scraper, 400 feet; wheel scrapers, 500 and 
600 feet; one horse cart, 1500 feet; wagon, 1800 feet, while tractor 
and truck on track do not reach the amount within one mile. The 
cost of grading depends materially upon the class of material, the 
location and the management of the operation. In McDowell 
County, West Virginia, a contractor failed on a contract at 65 cents 
per cubic yard, for a material running about 60 per cent soft sand¬ 
stone rock, and 40 per cent earth. The county purchased a steam 









































150 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


shovel and moved the material at a cost of 19 cents, including ex¬ 
plosives, drilling and shooting. This was casting work on heavy 
hillside grade. Thus the contract price to the county was $13,000 
for the 20,000 yards. The cost of the labor and explosives, upkeep 
of the machine was $3800. The cost of the machine including 
drill and compressor was $5500, or a total of $9300 including the cost 
of the machine, leaving the county a profit of $3700 in cash and 
the equipment. 

In Marion County, West Virginia, a contractor recently con¬ 
tracted for a piece of work unclassified at 46 cents and the work cost 
52 cents, this was done by steam shovel, being about 70 per cent rock 
and 30 per cent earth. 

In Mercer County, West Virginia, Walton and Company have 
contracted for grading of nine miles of road at 48 cents per cubic 
yard unclassified which work is running about 7360 cubic yards per 
mile. 

In Pleasants County, West Virginia, material running about 
80 per cent rock, and 20 per cent earth costs 83 cents per cubic 
yard to grade by day labor at 20 cents per hour, teams at $3.50 
per day. On the same piece of work with prison labor on the honor 
system which costs 75 cents per day and teams $3.50 per day, the 
grading cost 30 cents per cubic yard. 

In Kanawha County, West Virginia, the Atlantic Bitulithic 
Company has a contract for three miles of road grading and surfacing. 
The grading is contracted at $1.25 for stone and 34 cents for earth 
classifications running about 70 per cent and 30 per cent earth, or 
an average of 97.7 cents per yard. The State has a prison camp 
working on the honor system under a competent engineer and is 
moving the same class of material at 24 cents per cubic yard. 

Then as to methods the speaker would suggest the use of ma¬ 
chinery wherever possible under competent supervision and under 
proper direction and to make use of the State and county prison 
labor. On work that is light and on which machinery can be em¬ 
ployed the work should be done by day labor. On heavier work and 
large quantities the speaker would recommend contracting and to 
the contractor a systematic organization of his work so as to get 
the most efficient service from his men and equipment. There 
are volumes written covering the subject of Cost Data in heavier 
work but the speaker’s experience in highway work leads to the con¬ 
clusion that there are many elements entering into the cost of high¬ 
way construction that are often overlooked when comparing this 
class of work with heavier work. One point of deficiency that has 
been noticeable and should be emphasized here is the lack of organi¬ 
zation in highway construction in the various sections of the coun¬ 
try. In many instances 50 per cent of the cost could be saved by 
an adequate organization. 


GRADES AND EXCAVATIONS 


151 


ECONOMICAL CONSIDERATIONS 

The economical phases of highways and highway construction 
are many, and call for more time than the speaker should occupy. 
We might say that in studying the history of highways and high¬ 
way economics that it can be divided into three periods: The Roman 
or Ancient Road, the Telford and MacAdam period, extending from 
1750 to about 1840, and our modern or twentieth century awaken¬ 
ing. The Roman road with its 3 feet of stone was reduced about 
one-half in the days of Telford and MacAdam and now with modern 
machinery we are constructing macadamized roads in West Vir¬ 
ginia at costs ranging from $1000 to $4000 per mile, concrete from 
$7500 to $12,000 per mile, and brick from $9,000 to $20,000 per 
mile. It should be borne in mind, that the cross section of a road 
should be so as to permit the greater portion of the work to be done 
by machinery on ground where machinery can be operated, and 
that an extra width of the road on hillsides increase the cost. A 
road on hillsides should not be wider than is needed to care for the 
traffic. In county districts a 9-foot concrete bituminous or brick 
or a 10-foot macadam with 5 feet of earth on each berm will meet 
all the requirements at much less cost. 

On ground free from roots and stone, where a road machine can 
be used the material can be moved at a cost of less than 5 cents 
per yard, and on hillside grading where the work is casting a small 
steam shovel is an economical machine to use. With this should 
go a drilling outfit and attachments so it can be operated with the 
same power. Barbour County, West Virginia, this season pur¬ 
chased a tractor and heavy grader for each district, equipped them 
with drilling outfit and with less money than they expended in 1913 
without showing visible improvement upon their roads and have 
graded nearly all of the roads of the county in good shape. 

In conclusion I want to say that the most economical thing a 
community can do is to improve its roads so as to serve all its de¬ 
mands and to do this, it should employ a competent highway engi¬ 
neer to make a careful study of the needs of the territory, its financial 
ability to construct and maintain a road and to locate and supei in¬ 
tend the construction of their road for them. When the road is 
constructed a competent patrolman should be placed on it to con¬ 
tinually keep up the maintenance and repairs. Many of our paths 
and by-ways were not located by men or by engineers but were 
the foot-prints of the primitive mound builders, the buffalo, the 
deer and the wild animal that wandered to and fro in the wild wood. 
Thus our roads need revising because 

One day through the primeval wood, 

A calf walked home, as good calves should: 

But made a trail all bent askew, 

A crooked trail as all calves do. 


162 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


Since then two hundred years have fled, 
And, I infer the calf is dead. 

And from that day o’er hill and glade 
Through those old woods a path was made 
And many men wound in and out, 

And dodged and turned, and bent about 
And uttered words of righteous wrath 
Because ’twas such a crooked path. 

This forest path became a lane, 

That bent, and turned, and turned again; 
This crooked lane became a road. 

Where many a poor horse with his load 
Toiled on beneath the burning sun, 

And traveled some three miles in one. 

And thus, a century and a half 
Trod in the footsteps of that calf. 

The years passed on in swiftness fleet, 

The road became a village street; 

And this, before men were aware, 

A city’s crowded thoroughfare. 

And soon the central street was this 
Of a renowned metropolis. 

And men two centuries and a half 
Trod in the footsteps of that calf. 

Each day a hundred thousand rout 
Followed the zigzag calf about; 

And o’er this crooked journey went 
The traffic of a continent. 

A hundred thousand men were led 
By one calf near three centuries dead. 
They followed still his crooked way, 

And lost one hundred years a day; 

On some roads the first engineer 
Was a wild beast or fleeting deer, 

Road Builders, be sure when you laugh, 
That you’re not trailing a calf. 

For such a reverence is lent 
To well establish precedent, 

That men are prone to go it blind 
Along the calf paths of the mind, 

And work away from sun to sun 
To do what other men have done. 

They follow in the beaten track, 

And out, and in, and forth, and back, 

And still their devious course pursue, 

To keep the path that others do. 

But how the wise old wood gods laugh 
Who saw the first primeval calf. 

Ah! many things this tale might teach 
But I am not ordained to preach. 


GRADES AND EXCAVATIONS 


153 


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154 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


The Chairman: The discussion of Mr. Williams’ paper will 
be opened by Mr. William R. Roy, State Highway Commissioner 
of Washington. 

Mr. Roy: I have been asked to lead the discussion on Mr. Wil¬ 
liams’ paper “Grades and Excavations.” I have no disposition to 
criticise Mr. Williams’ findings. He has handled his subject with 
skill, and in a very painstaking manner, and I am sure that you 
gentlemen who have had the privilege of hearing him feel well repaid 
for your time. 

The question of grades is a very important one, and we in the 
State of Washington find the extremes confronting us on every 
hand, and on account of the topography of our country we are com¬ 
pelled to keep close to water grades, hence we cannot make our 
locations on section or township lines, except in very rare cases. 
We have a large State in which are more than 40,000 miles of roads 
without counties, the winding calf trails that Mr. Williams refers to. 

We are fortunate in our State to have a governor, who is not only 
a road enthusiast, but a practical road builder of large and varied 
experience, and being chairman of the Highway Board is a tower 
of strength to the working force of the department. The other 
members of the board are equally zealous and enthusiastic and 
under their guidance we have during this biennium completed 233.5 
miles of State highways, and we have completed 442 miles of perma¬ 
nent highways. This represents most all of the different types of 
surface. In addition to the above the counties have built during 
the biennium 1900 miles of road, or a grand total of State and county 
roads of 2343 miles of roads. The State roads are cleared and graded, 
ditched and drained to standard plans with concrete culverts— 
bridges designed to take care of future traffic. Our maximum grade 
is 5 per cent. We have just completed a section of the Sunset 
Highway over the Snognalinie Pass in the Cascade Mountains. 
There is no grade on this road exceeding 5 per cent. This was a 
gigantic undertaking, but with an efficient engineering force and 
the cooperation of a competent contractor we have exceeded our 
expectations, and opened for tourist traffic next year across the 
State that the people of the State and nation will be proud of for 
all time to come. The scenic beauty along this road is unsur¬ 
passed anywhere in the world. The drainage problems in our State 
have to be handled according to local conditions. Formula used 
with satisfaction in eastern Washington where there is light rain¬ 
fall would not be adequate on the west side of the State where there 
is very heavy precipitation. There we are compelled to spend a 
great deal more money per mile for drainage. 

During this biennium we have expended for State roads $2,000,000, 
for permanent highways $3,264,091, and in addition to the above 
expenditure of State moneys the counties have expenditure for new 
construction $4,533,000 and for maintenance during the same time 


DISCUSSION 


155 


$3,220,000. Taking the total mileage in the State the cost of main¬ 
tenance is about $43 per mile. Most of the counties in the State 
are well organized for helping the cause of road building, and the 
Highway Department has been fortunate indeed to have had the 
hearty support and cooperation of all the county commissioners, 
engineers, supervisors and good roads associations all over the State. 

The Chairman: Secretary Pennybacker has a letter he desires 
to read. 

The Secretary: This is a letter just received from President 
Woodrow Wilson: 

Mr. Austin B. Fletcher, President of the Fourth American Road 
Congress, Atlanta, Ga. 

My Dear Mr. Fletcher: I regret that I am compelled to forego 
the pleasure of attending the Fourth American Road Congress. 
May I ask you to convey to the members of the Congress my deep 
interest in the important work they are striving to promote? I 
need scarcely emphasize the social and economic importance of good 
roads. They are prerequisite to the betterment of rural life in a 
number of directions. Improved roads, especially improved com¬ 
munity roads from the faim to the nearest railway station, are 
an urgent necessity. They are essential for the economical mar¬ 
keting of farm products, and for the development of the educa¬ 
tional and social institutions of the country. As important as the 
matter of providing additional funds may be even more impor¬ 
tant are the matters of better road administration and the better 
maintenance of roads already constructed. The nation is now ex¬ 
pending more than $205,000,000 annually for the construction and 
maintenance of roads, and it is clear that we are not getting the 
results we should have. The proper planning for road systems in 
States, the development of better methods of administration, State 
and local, and the proper maintenance of roads, will, I am sure, 
receive peculiar attention from your body. When the people are 
convinced that they will receive full value for every dollar expended 
on roads they will be brought more easily to an appreciation of the 
need for future expenditure and will make the requisite provision. 
I believe that your body can furnish intelligent guidance in the 
solution of our problems in this field. Sincerely yours, (Signed) 

Woodrow Wilson. 

The White House, Washington. 

Mr. Murphy (of Pike County, Ga.): Mr. Chairman: In look¬ 
ing over the list of distinguished speakers at this Congress I fail 
to find any of the ear-marks of the farmer, the man who is more 
intensely interested in good roads because it is the foundation and 


156 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


the bed rock of all development and uplift of the agricultural inter¬ 
ests of this country; I mean the farmer who lives, moves and works 
upon the farm and is dependent upon the results of those farm 
operations. If I did not fear that I would shock my hearers, I 
would claim that this good roads movement is of far more inter¬ 
est to the farmers of the South than any cooperative bank loan or 
government aid to relieve the present conditions, for just so far as 
the farmers’ obligations are increased in connection with present 
conditions, just that far will you distract his brain and energy from 
farm operations of the future which are so necessary for his success. 
But in travelling over this State from near the line of Florida to 
the line of Tennessee, I find that wherever there is a short stretch 
of good road, upon that you see farm homes that are attractive, 
upon that you see commodious barns, you see fences well kept up 
and painted; you see flowers in the front yard and everything is 
an evidence of thrift and good living. The land surrounding these 
farm homes is worth $50 to $200 per acre. On the contrary when 
you reach a stretch of road where it is almost impossible for a team 
to pull one bale of cotton, you see the farm home of the past occupied 
by negroes, falling down, dilapidated, the barn consisting of a little 
log house of about 10 x 15, the fences falling down, if you find any; 
the grass is growing up to the front steps of the little dilapidated 
residence; the land around such a habitation has no market value; 
no one wants to live in a community where it takes all of his motive 
power to carry one bale of cotton to market. Now I have a few 
criticisms to pass upon the road work of the present. I believe in 
reducing these things down to hard tacks. The farmer is the man 
who is dependent entirely upon the dirt roads of rural districts. 
What is the road work of the present? Simply temporary; it is 
dry weather road work. Your road force goes along today, grades 
the road if it grades it at all, crowns it up, irons it over with a scraper 
and leaves it. What is the result? Tomorrow your rain comes, 
and for the next ten days the road is almost impassable. That road 
force will not get back to that road for something like a year or 
two years. Not only that, but here is an elevation, there is a de¬ 
pression, there is another elevation; he crowns up his road and runs 
all of that surface water down to the depression and makes no dis¬ 
position of the water collected there. And there is a gully washed 
across the roadway for the unsuspecting automobilist at night and 
away goes his front axle and spring. Now that is what I see in 
traveling over Georgia; that is the result of the road work we are 
getting; that is the kind of work our taxes are going to support. 
Again, maintenance—oh, there is the key to the situation. I refer 
in all of my criticisms to sand clay and clay sand roads. That is 
the only practical and feasible thing for our rural districts for the 
present at least, so my criticism will be on that class of roads. Now 
this question of maintenance—there is not a single county in the 
State of Georgia to my knowledge where a systematic provision is 


SURFACES FOR MIXED TRAFFIC 


157 


made for maintenance and up-keep of the roads of Georgia. They 
go ahead with their initial work and then it all looks nice and smooth, 
but as I stated a while ago, the rain comes and here goes your ex¬ 
penditures of thousands and thousands of dollars for road work. 
I want this Congress to impress upon those men who have in charge 
the actual building of the road, the important fact that the up¬ 
keep is more important than the initial work. Now, Mr. President, 
what I want to see is a school to teach road builders of this country 
how to build a road; that should be the intent of your Congress. 
Create a school; they are ignorant, they don’t know how to build 
a road, but they think they do, and won’t come here to hear these 
experts tell them how to build a road. This expert knowledge is 
fine, I enjoy it. I am so intensely interested in good roads that 
I would like to hear it for a week, but it is just like the government 
aid to the farmers and the cooperative bank loans to farmers, it 
don’t reach the man who is in distress. This expert knowledge that 
you are giving forth here in this convention does not reach the man 
who moves the dirt, you understand, the overseer, the superintend¬ 
ent. Let us have that kind of an education under State authority, 
if it is possible, and make it compulsory that he must bear a diploma 
from this school before he can accept a position as road builder in 
our country. Thank you. 

Mr. Williams: If the gentleman will present his name to the 
State Highway Commissioner of West Virginia, we will send him 
a copy of that kind of a law that is already in operation and doing 
good work. 

The Chairman: I think there can be no question but what the 
whole convention is with our friend from Georgia who has just 
spoken to us. The next paper is “Light Traffic Roads,” by Mr. 
S. Percy Hooker, State Superintendent of Highways of New 
Hampshire. 

SURFACES FOR LIGHT VOLUME MIXED TRAFFIC 

By S. Percy Hooker 

State Superintendent of Highways of New Hampshire 

In a subject of this kind the first question to determine is the 
exact meaning of the title. 

What is light volume mixed traffic? How many vehicles are to 
pass over a given piece of highway and still be classed as light vol¬ 
ume? What is their relative proportion as to motor propelled and 
horse drawn? I confess I am not clear upon the right interpreta¬ 
tion of these terms. There are sections of the country where pre¬ 
sumably the mixed traffic would consist almost entirely of horse 


158 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


drawn vehicles, while in others a very large per cent would be motor 
traffic. 

The treatment of the surface of these two sub-divisions would 
vary to a considerable extent. I am inclined to consider the sub¬ 
ject as being the treatment of subsidiary roads which have only 
the horse drawn traffic originating upon the road, together with 
motor traffic of the pleasure class and little or no freight traffic which 
is motor driven. 

From my point of view, the word “surfaces” is somewhat super¬ 
fluous and the subject is the entire treatment, comprising the sub¬ 
grade and drainage conditions, which must be considered as part 
of the surfacing in order to treat intelligently its surface. 

I shall treat the subject, therefore, broadly as the improvement 
of the ordinary country road as it now exists. The purpose being 
to obtain the greatest amount of linear feet with the least expendi¬ 
ture of money. 

With the immense mileage of roads in the United States, it seems 
to me perfectly clear that even in the wealthier States a large pro¬ 
portion of the roads will never be improved under the types of con¬ 
struction which are now considered necessary for their improvement 
and that 90 per cent of the entire mileage will be unimproved if it 
is necessary to improve them with the higher types of construction. 

My impression is that there must be a revulsion of feeling which 
will compel more mileage and lesser cost. Given then a country 
highway as it now exists and the proposition that for 10 miles of 
this road there is only available the sum of $25,000, what can we 
do to render this really an improved road, which under proper main¬ 
tenance will take care of the traffic upon it? A preliminary survey 
may show that a portion of the road is in a low lying level section 
without proper ditches where at present the natural tendency of the 
road is to act as a sort of drainage canal for lands adjacent to it. 
The soil itself consisting partially of leaf mold containing a large 
amount of humus and which if used as a cultivated field would pro¬ 
duce good crops. 

The next portion may consist of a sand and gravel formation, con¬ 
taining boulders and on a grade of from 5 to 8 per cent, rolling over 
elevations and down into hollows and gullies and eventually working 
out into clear deep sand. 

Succeeding this may be a hollow from which you rise upon a side 
hill cut through a clay bank. Here you face the proposition that 
the clay is of such a nature as to practically absorb all the water and 
where your drainage condition is most difficult to handle. 

Your last section may be through ledge of native rock or large 
boulders, the soil slightly covered with either hard pan or sand and 
upon grades which easily wash under the annual rain falls. 

On almost all country roads several of these conditions will ordi¬ 
narily appear, while of course it is an exaggeration that they will all 
occur within the 10-mile stretch. 


SURFACES FOR MIXED TRAFFIC 


159 


Confronted with these conditions it seems to me to be absurd 
to attempt a standardization of such a highway in order to econom¬ 
ically work out your problem. You must use the material which 
is comparatively local and the treatment of each section will be 
different. 

The width of the present highway must first be taken up and in 
general standardized for the ordinary traffic, probably a width of 
21 feet between ditches is the most satisfactory standard and con¬ 
sidering that this should be accepted as the width of the road, you 
are next confronted with the alignment and drainage. 

In all probability the alignment will be comparatively easy over 
your level fertile section, but the drainage on this section will be 
your principal problem. Here in general you must first provide by 
deep ditching for reducing the water level of the surrounding land 
and by deep ditching I do not mean the ordinary ditch from which 
the crown of your road rises, but in many instances a ditch which 
acts to a considerable extent as a drainage canal. 

You must provide culverts at all points where the drainage may 
be taken away from the road at every accessible point, and however 
level you may consider the plain or plateau as a whole, you will 
doubtless find a large number of places by which the water will be 
conveyed entirely away from the road and bother you no more. 

In most instances the grading material obtained from the ditches, 
though seemingly of very inferior quality, may be used to raise the 
general grade of your road and if kept dry by the side ditches will 
compact and make a fair subgrade. 

Your next essential is in some way to obtain upon such raised 
grade a sufficient quantity of metal of some kind to prevent the 
cutting through of your road surface from water which falls upon 
the road or in flood seasons cannot be entirely carried away by your 
ditches. On my plan this may be obtained from either fields, stone 
fences or even drawn from section two, which has an entirely differ¬ 
ent soil. In some places it would be necessary to practically lay 
this stone as telford. In other places it is enough to simply dump 
it in the road and only partially place it by hand labor. In many 
places where a roller is available this may be the method and the 
stone simply forced into the soft material which you have excavated 
from the ditches and which has not as yet thoroughly dried out from 
the service rendered by the ditches. 

Now what shall be applied as your surface material? In many 
places you will find that along or adjacent to the road there are hills 
or hummocks which contain soil not properly either hard pan or 
clay, but in many places a combination of each containing consid¬ 
erable metal in the shape of either pebbles or fractured stone, and 
having obtained your bottom through drainage and the addition of 
stone so that you are confident your sub-base will be practically 
dry, you may apply 10 inches of the material containing a small 
amount of metal and by the use of road drags and road hones bring 


160 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


this first into section and next into a smooth hard surfacing, which 
will prove satisfactory in all weather for traffic, provided it has con¬ 
stant attendance and is repeated after every rain dragged with the 
ordinary road drag. The drag removes every slight rut which may 
be started and does not allow the water to settle through your weak 
upper surfacing. The maintenance must be not intermittent, but 
constant. You may find that you still have a somewhat slippery 
upper surface in which case it will be necessary to add an inch or 
two of your gravel or sand from section two. You will find that 
this will only require from 3 to 6 yards of your gravel surfacing per 
100 feet and while it may be at a considerable distance from the 
improvement, it will not add materially to the cost. 

Your surfacing upon such a type of road will require practically 
2000 yards per mile and if the material is from different banks along 
the roads your cost will not exceed twenty cents per yard. It is then 
perfectly feasible over this section to build such a highway, including 
the raising of the grade from 1 to 2 feet at a cost of not more than 
your estimated limit of $2500 per mile. 

On section two, as I have imagined it, you have a problem of grad¬ 
ing, rather than of drainage. That is, the soil will readily dispose 
of your water, but you must reduce the grades to a reasonable 
gradient and with a sandy material provide some method for com¬ 
pacting the road. The first to consider then is what shall be your 
maximum grade. 

I confess that in this class of construction I proceed backwards, 
like a crab, rather than attempting to dictate an absolute gradient. 
That is, I take the heaviest grade and see to which per cent I can 
reduce this with a reasonable amount of money, instead of saying 
arbitrarily that a 4 per cent grade is the maximum, I figure how much 
it will cost for a 4 per cent, how much less for a 5 per cent and what 
the saving would be, should I allow it at even a 6 per cent grade. 

We will say that I have found that I may reasonably reduce the 
grade on this section to 5 per cent. This I establish as a maximum 
and the other grades are brought to this maximum. 

There will doubtless be considerable blasting on the large boulders 
to do on this section in order to properly widen your road, because 
the ordinary country road has no established width. In cutting 
your grades you will usually find that a considerable portion of the 
material which you have excavated in reducing the grade makes 
good surface material and almost your entire expense will be the 
shaping of your roadway and your drainage. 

As I have imagined it, however, as you approach the end of this 
section you have run through your gravel and into what is prac¬ 
tically sand. Here the gravel that you have on the other end will 
not properly compact or pack so as to make a suitable road surface 
and you will have to build practically a sand-clay road. I have not 
had good success with the sand-clay roads, unless I have practically 
telfordized the same by making the sub-base largely of metal. 


SURFACES FOR MIXED TRAFFIC 


161 


In my treatment of this particular part of section two, I should 
endeavor from the gravel pits used on the first part of it to obtain 
the small boulders sufficient to build the entire bottom of the road 
to at least 6 inches in thickness of such pebbles. 

These I should fill with sand up to the top of the metal, then put 
on at least three alternating sections of clay and sand repeating 
until I had my road at least 10 inches thick, harrow each section as 
it is built up, seeing that the top surface is of sand rather than of clay. 

This portion of the section, as I advise building, will doubtless 
cost much more than the sum per mile than you have expended 
upon the gravel portion, but together they should leave your gen¬ 
eral average within the limit. 

Section three, consisting largely of grade, is almost entirely a 
drainage proposition and it will be very necessary to practically tap 
the water coming from the side hill near the surface or originating 
within the road. You may find it necessary in many instances to 
run short drains for the express purpose of tapping the water holes, 
which come up in the road bed proper and it will doubtless be neces¬ 
sary on the inside of such a road to lay a side drain the entire length 
of every grade. A ditch should be dug on the upper side of your 
road to a depth of at least below frost line, a foot of sand being 
placed in the bottom and then an open drainage tile laid to as per¬ 
fect a grade as possible and your ditch filled in with sand seems to 
be the most satisfactory way of cutting off this water. 

Having shaped your clay road which is a comparatively easy 
matter as such a road will retain its section and may be practically 
worked with a road machine and then covered with, not to exceed 
2 inches, of sand and gravel harrowed in as thoroughly as possible, 
though it is somewhat difficult upon a clay road to get the sand to 
work into it at first and the farther application during wet weather 
of at least 2 inches more, will ordinarily give such a road a most 
desirable surface. The only caution being that you must not apply 
the sand in large quantities at a time, but must expect to renew this 
surface frequently during the first two years. 

We have assumed that we have now come to the ledge and boulder 
section and that all material must be drawn from a considerable 
distance to make a satisfactory road. Here without question, the 
most feasible plan is to use a macadam roadway. The putting up 
of a local crusher and the macadam method of construction may 
enable you to build at a less cost than would the use of the uncrushed 
material. 

Frequently, however, on such sections there is a great difficulty 
in getting sufficient water to properly flush a water bound macadam 
road. You may obviate the use of large quantities of water by the 
use of bitumen but this adds greatly to the cost of your road. 

Wherever macadam is used you may retain the same 21-foot 
section, though 15 feet should be the extreme width of the metalling. 
This will take 2600 tons per mile of stone and assuming the use of 


162 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


2f gallons of bitumen per square yard, your added cost will be some¬ 
thing over $2000 per mile. If water is fairly available, you may 
build your water bound road and apply one-half gallon per square 
yard of bitumen as a cover coat at a cost of about $650 per mile, 
which will reduce the cost of your road for light traffic about $1500 
per mile. Unless there is considerable trouble about getting your 
water therefore I should recommend the use of water bound macadam 
with the blanket coat. 

You must consider also the added cost of maintenance upon your 
macadam road as compared with the cheaper forms, so that per¬ 
sonally I should hesitate about using macadam whenever there is 
a possibility of using the cheaper surfacing. 

Assuming a small apportionment available for the entire mileage 
needing improvement the economic question is what plan will you 
adopt for the treatment of such a highway. Will you practically 
complete this 10 miles with your money or will you build 3 miles of 
the higher type of roadway and leave the rest unimproved. This 
seems to be the attitude adopted by most highway departments. 
They standardize their plans and specifications and are content with 
the small mileage of what they are willing to say is the best con¬ 
struction and they dislike extremely to build for small cost what 
they term an inferior type of road. 

I believe this is a serious economic error and in most sections a 
road infinitely better than has previously existed may be built at a 
comparatively small cost to the great betterment of the roads in 
general and to the great help of the inhabitants of a State. 

As far as automobile traffic is concerned, I am sure that many of 
the inferior types of road are far more satisfactory to them in gen¬ 
eral than the highest type. Your autoist cares little for a short 
section of the best possible road if at the end of it he plunges into 
what he is pleased to call an impassable road for three-quarters of 
the distance. I believe the development of roads in the future will 
be along the line of more mileage and less cost and that this is the 
proper trend of development. 

I have talked so far almost entirely about the preliminary building 
of such surfaces. I want to say a little about the cost and methods 
of maintenance on these types of road. 

Constant continuous maintenance is necessary upon all the types 
of roads that are built. It is indispensable, however, that upon the 
surfaces of the cheaper type of roadway the maintenance be both 
continuous and intelligent. 

A road of what may be called natural surfacing, if left for even 
a week during the summer season without attention loses all its 
features of a good road. It must be constantly patrolled, all holes 
in it which have worn must be filled, all weak spots which develop 
must be repaired within a few hours after discovery or your road 
will so rapidly degenerate that it is useless as an “improved.” 


SURFACES FOR MIXED TRAFFIC 


163 


The higher types of roadway may be left for varying periods of 
time without attention and while this results in the end in being a 
more expensive method of treatment it is only a loss of money, you 
still have the road which may be repaired, but if you attempt this 
sort of treatment upon your cheap surface you eventually lose your 
highway entirely. 

My experience is that a patrolman with a horse and cart, an 
efficient drag or hone and the willingness to work will keep in almost 
perfect condition from 5 to 7 miles a cheaply constructed roadway, 
at an approximate cost of from $175 to $200 per mile. 

Given the same mileage of the higher types of road he will require 
a helper, a much larger equipment and if working upon bituminous 
roads probably not less than $150 per mile for material in the way 
of bitumen, crushed stone, etc. 

My average cost of maintenance upon the higher types of road 
including the use of a blanket treatment once in two years will not 
be less than $500 per mile, and in many instances it will greatly 
exceed this. On the expensive road also you are constantly facing 
the fact that within a reasonable number of years you must resur¬ 
face at a cost approximating $6000 a mile, while upon your cheaper 
road, if properly patroled, you will find that your surface material 
is thicker than it was at the time the road was built and has been 
in practically perfect condition during the entire period. 

If the dust nuisance upon your cheaper road becomes intolerable 
it may be alleviated greatly and practically removed by the appli¬ 
cation of light bituminous oils or tars. The objection of this treat¬ 
ment, however, being the tendency on the part of a patrolman to 
allow the road to get out of section by neglecting to drag it after 
every rain, as he does not wish to destroy the skin coating on top, 
which is left after the treatment. 

The cost of this treatment adds about $150 per mile to the cost 
of maintenance and on the whole is not as satisfactory for light 
travel in its final results, as adhering to the use of the natural soil 
and the regular treatment by dragging. 

Road problems may be roughly divided into four sub-divisions, 
and their order of importance is about as follows; drainage, align¬ 
ment, grade and surfacing. 

It is unfortunate that to most people the latter is more important, 
while relatively it is of far less importance than the other three. 
The surfacing material is frequently considered paramount and the 
settling of the question as to whether you have a bituminous road, 
penetration method or mixing, a concrete road, or a pavement type 
is the main subject of discussion and with far more attention given 
to it, than in my opinion it rightly deserves. 

Your drainage, alignment and your change of grade are permanent 
features. The surfacing can never be permanent. I have sometimes 
wondered whether a bond issue to be paid for by posterity should 
ever be expended on any feature that is not permanent. 


164 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


Concededly, surfacing of all kinds will require not only constant 
maintenance but rebuilding. With the essentials fully attended to 
it is surprising how the surfacing may be maintained at a compara¬ 
tively small cost. I believe that it is as necessary for us to turn 
our attention to the economic side of the road question as to the 
scientific. A highway must have an economic road rental, as well 
as a fixed road maintenance and wherever the actual cost plus its 
maintenance exceeds its rental value we are wasting money in build¬ 
ing too expensive a road. We must so adjust the scales that our 
costs are such as to provide a roadway for the traffic at the least 
possible expense. 

I realize that this is a very sketchy treatment of the subject given 
me. It is not scientific, but it equally is not theoretic. Financial 
problems in a State with a very small assessment roll and a large 
road mileage has made it a necessity in my State. 

In order to accommodate a large tourist traffic we must have 
reasonably good roads and we cannot afford the kinds of roadway 
that are being built in many of the richer States. We have met the 
problem, as I have outlined in a rambling way, and it is satisfactory 
to us. It seems to me that there are many other States which might 
well adopt a plan of more mileage at less cost to their great financial 
benefit and to the comparative satisfaction of their residents and 
visitors. 

The Chairman: Before taking up the discussion of this subject, 
I want to announce. that the Resolutions Committee will meet at 
three o’clock today in the second floor front room of this building. 
I also want to announce that there will be a meeting of State high¬ 
way officials and Federal highway officials in the moving picture 
room across the hall at three o’clock tomorrow. The discussion of 
this paper will be opened by Mr. Franjt F. Rogers, State Highway 
Commissioner of Michigan. 

Mr. Rogers: Mr. President and Gentlemen: I am almost with¬ 
out any underpinning here, because I had prepared to discuss the 
very paper that was written out so carefully by the speaker who 
has just preceded me, but inasmuch as he did not give you any of 
that paper, I am at a loss to know exactly what I am going to discuss 
but I have it all written out before me. Well, I don’t know but 
I will take a little different view of the subject from that of the 
man who preceded me because I do not assume that the people 
who are before me all represent this territory around Atlanta. I 
have seen men on the platform from Washington and from Kansas 
and from New Hampshire and Pennsylvania and I assume that 
this subject is to an audience somewhat farther reaching than the 
territory that is affected by the roads about Atlanta. 

I don’t know much about road conditions except in Michigan 


DISCUSSION 


165 


where I have been connected with the system for several years, 
but as Michigan is somewhat typical of the States of the Central 
West, I am going to give you a few of the problems that have occurred 
to us and if any of this becomes wearisome, I can cut it short. 

The few traffic records that we have taken show that the travel 
over Michigan roads has a daily average ranging from something 
over 2000 vehicles per day down to a very few, say less than 10. 
Our traffic records also show, as have those taken by other States, 
that the volume of traffic drops off very rapidly as the distance from 
the market town increases and that on the main or trunk line roads, 
the minimum traffic is found approximately midway between the 
towns, or more correctly, where the effort to reach a given town 
meets with the least resistance. 

To illustrate, the main roads entering the city of Detroit bear a 
traffic near the city limits ranging from 500 to 2000 vehicles per 
day, of which from one-half to three-fourths are motor driven. 

The travel on the main roads entering the city of Lansing, a town 
of approximately 40,000 population, ranges from 200 to 600 vehicles 
daily with about the same percentage of motor vehicles. Michigan 
Avenue, which is the main road entering Lansing from the west 
and on the main line of highway towards Detroit, bears a traffic 
according to a count taken one-half mile from the city limits, of 
600 vehicles per day. This road connects the city of Lansing with 
East Lansing, which is really a suburb of Lansing, and the home 
of the Michigan Agricultural College. One mile east of East Lansing 
on this same road, the traffic drops to 300 vehicles per day, and 
eight miles from Lansing on the same road and about one mile east 
of the little village of Okemos, the traffic drops to about 125 vehi¬ 
cles per day, which is considerably less than on any main road entering 
Lansing at about one mile from the city limits. 

From the foregoing I am inclined to believe that roads having a 
traffic of less than 300 vehicles per day might consistently be con¬ 
sidered as coming within the scope of this subject, and I wish to 
confine my remarks chiefly to roads of this class which have come 
under my observation. 

In 1906 the Michigan Avenue road between Lansing and East 
Lansing, some two miles in length above referred to as carrying a 
traffic of 600 vehicles per day, was surfaced with water bound 
cobblestone macadam. It immediately began to ravel, especially 
midway between the two towns, due to the fact that it became a 
speedway for automobiles, as it was then the only improved road 
leading out of Lansing. The second year a contract was let to the 
-Refining Company to improve this road by incorporat¬ 
ing a bituminous binder. The road was scarified and a rather light 
asphaltic oil added and re-rolled with a hope of binding the road. 
The oil did not prove a good binder and the road soon became rutted 
and uneven, so that it was even in poorer condition a few months 
after treatment than before. As this road was put in under a two 



166 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


year guarantee, the next year the company scalped off the old 
bituminous surface with a thin layer of stone which adhered to it, 
and carted it all away. The road was then scarified and more 
bituminous material with greater cementing qualities added, after 
which the road was surfaced with about an inch of screened gravel 
and rolled. This seemed like a fairly good road for a few months, 
but the binder was sticky in warm weather and while the road 
appeared smooth, the adhesion of iron tired vehicles to the road 
surface made traction heavy rather than light. Later this road 
became very much rutted and was in poor condition and during the 
fall of 1913 it was decided to give the road a screened gravel top. 

The bottom layer of gravel about four inches thick, loose meas¬ 
ure, was applied to the road in the fall of 1913 and allowed to work 
down under traffic during the winter and spring months. In the 
spring of 1914 another layer of screened gravel was added which 
was harrowed and rolled, but mainly compacted under traffic. After 
the road had become fairly hard, it was treated with two or three 
applications of gluterin. The road surface remained in a smooth 
and firm condition most of the summer, but at this writing, Novem¬ 
ber, 1914, the road crust is breaking at points and for quite long 
distances the surface presents a series of pit holes at quite uniform 
distances of about one foot apart, measuring along the axis of the 
road. 

The above facts have convinced the writer that roads having as 
much traffic as the above, cannot be held up with water bounded 
macadam nor even with the best gravel surfaces, unless they have 
constant repairs. It would doubtless be wise to pave such roads 
with cement—concrete, asphaltic concrete, or brick. 

Still further analyzing the traffic on the above road and rating 
single horse vehicles at one-half ton, double team light vehicles 
at 1 ton, double team loaded vehicles at 2 tons, runabout auto¬ 
mobiles at 1 ton, touring cars at 2 tons, and motor trucks at 4 tons, 
the above road was found to have 225.6 tons per yard of width 
per day, or counting 300 days to the year, 67,680 tons per yard of 
width per year. 

Engineer J. A. Brodie of Liverpool, who has carefully recorded 
his experience with the different types of road surfaces, places the 
total life of water bonded macadam roads at 120,000 tons, which 
would indicate that this road as originally built and under the 
traffic it now bears should not have been expected to last even two 
years. But this is really a heavy traffic road and does not properly 
come within the limits of this discussion except for comparison. 

The next road out on Michigan Avenue, between East Lansing 
and the village of Okemos, already referred to as having a traffic 
of 300 vehicles per day, has a length of two and one-half miles. 
The westerly mile of this stretch of road on which the traffic count 
was taken, was built in 1908 as a 9-foot gravel road at a cost of 
$1800. 


DISCUSSION 


167 


The soil composing this road is a sandy loam, sufficiently rolling 
for good drainage. The road grade was built 20 feet wide between 
gutters and the central portion of the road was surfaced with 9 
feet of gravel put on in two layers, and in sufficient quantity to 
make 8 inches of compacted depth. Each layer was harrowed and 
rolled separately. The gravel was of good quality, the pebbles all 
being fragments of the harder rocks. The surface layer was coarse 
enough so that from 60 to 70 per cent would be retained on a No. 8 
screen. No extra binding material was added and although the 
gravel was harrowed and rolled, it was mostly compacted by traffic. 
This road has been used without resurfacing or repairs, except in 
spots, and there with a poorer quality of gravel than was used in 
the original construction, but it has been in need of resurfacing for 
about two years. 

The road above referred to was so good and satisfactory to the 
users, that the writer has been asked many times why a road like 
this was not built between Lansing and East Lansing instead of 
the macadam. Of course these parties did not realize the differ¬ 
ence in the amount of traffic on the two roads. 

The point I wish to emphasize regarding this road is that it was 
built of local gravels and was very low in first cost, but served the 
needs of the community perfectly for from three to four years with 
but very little expense for maintenance. 

While I have no data from other sources stating how many tons 
of traffic such a road should carry per yard of width during its 
life, this road has carried according to the same rating as used above, 
175 tons per yard of width per day, 52,500 per year, or during the 
four years in which it was in relatively good repair at small cost, 
210,000 tons per yard of width, or one and three-fourths times as 
much traffic as Mr. Brodie figures for a water bonded macadam. 
Sixty-six and eight-tenths per cent of the travel on this road has 
been motor vehicles. 

The road beyond Okemos on which the count was taken is an 
ordinary earth road and will not be further considered. 

One other road will suffice for these illustrations. It is a 9-foot 
gravel road built on the Grand River Road in Farmington Town¬ 
ship, Oakland County, in 1910. It was resurfaced on account of 
becoming a part of the trunk line, in the fall of 1913, although it 
was not in bad condition at the time of resurfacing. The traffic 
record shows this road to have carried 195 tons per yard of width 
per day, 58,500 tons per yard of width per year, or during the three 
years, 175,500 tons per yard of width in the three years before it 
was resurfaced. This again is nearly one and one-half times as 
much as the water bound macadam was rated at by Mr. Brodie. 
About three-fourths of the traffic on this road was from motor 
vehicles. The cost of building it was reported as $2524 per mile. 

I have not given these illustrations for the purpose of showing 
the superiority of gravel roads over macadam, or in fact over any 


168 


AMERICAN ROAI) CONGRESS 


other type of road, for Michigan is using almost every kind of road 
building material available and is especially trying to make the 
best possible use of the materials near at hand. They are given, 
however, to show that well built gravel roads are actually standing 
up under a mixed traffic of farm vehicles and automobiles as well, 
if not better, than we could hope to expect. Further the cost of 
these roads where good gravels can be had within a wagon haul, 
is very reasonable, and since the total cost of a road to a community 
is its first cost plus maintenance, the total cost of these roads is not 
great. 

To show that such roads are not exceptions, but that they actually 
are being built in Michigan for approximately the figures given, I 
am taking from a table of costs which will be printed in the forth¬ 
coming report of the Michigan State Highway Department, the 
average cost per mile of 9-foot gravel roads, from a number of coun¬ 
ties representing different sections of the State. They are as follows: 


Allegany County. $1,643 

Antrim County. 3,942 

In this county the grading cost is rather heavy and the gravel 
was all screened. 

Barry County. $1,855 

Benzie County. 2,154 

Calhoun County. 1,805 

Clinton County. 1,983 

Eaton County. *>725 

Genesee County. 2,577 

Gd. Traverse County. 2,833 

Hillsdale County. 2,142 

Huron County. 1,961 

Kalamazoo County. 2,414 

Oakland County. 2,426 

Roscommon County. 2,091 


The above figures are sufficient to show that quite generally over 
Michigan, we are building roads of a type that seems to satisfy 
the needs of the different communities at a cost somewhat within 
the $2500 per mile limit assumed by Mr. Hooker as a fair figure to 
expend on roads carrying a light volume and mixed traffic. In 
fact, 64 per cent of all the roads which have received State aid in 
Michigan are of gravel. It may be argued that these 9-foot gravel 
roads would not serve the needs of most communities. Michigan 
has demonstrated to the satisfaction of her own people that they 
do in most cases. In making inquiries regarding the width of metal 
track several years ago, the writer asked a certain highway com¬ 
missioner in Michigan if there were complaints of his road being 
too narrow, since it was completed. His answer was: “It is a good 
deal like this: All the time I was building the road everybody who 
came along said it was too narrow; after it was completed, every¬ 
body who came along said it was too short.” 
















DISCUSSION 


169 


While Michigan is building many roads with surfaces wider than 
10 feet and pays extra bounty for extra width of metal surface 
between 9 feet and 16 feet, the greater number of light traveled roads 
are still built and will continue to be built with the metal only 9 
feet wide. Experience shows that where the travel is relatively 
small, probably less than 100 vehicles per day, the shoulders of the 
road soon grass over up to the edges of the metal. In other words 
the turning out is not frequent enough to keep the grass worn down 
on the shoulders beyond the edges of the 9-foot metal track. 

So long as the cry is for more distance rather than for more width, 
it is probable that Michigan will continue to reach out and have 
for its slogan: “Put it on the ends rather than on the sides.” It 
is clearly the duty of the road engineer to make every dollar placed 
in his hands for road building purposes, give the people the utmost 
value in actual road service. If a gravel road which serves the needs 
of the community can be built for $2000 a mile and can be main¬ 
tained, including periodic resurfacing at a cost of $200 per mile a 
year, thus representing to the community a perpetual annual rental 
cost of $300 a mile, money being worth 5 per cent, it would seem to 
be folly to build the more expensive road unless traffic or soil con¬ 
ditions demand it. If we expend $10,000 a mile on a road, even if 
there were no maintenance charge, the annual rental cost of such 
road will be $500 per mile. But the expensive roads do come to 
repairs sooner or later and these repairs are likely to be at about 
the same ration as was found in the original cost of the two roads— 
1 to 5. 

If the daily traffic over these roads is 100 vehicles a day, the per¬ 
petual toll cost of the cheaper road will be one cent per mile, while 
on the more expensive road it will be If cents per mile, plus the 
maintenance charge, which will make a toll charge much more than 
double that on the cheaper road, the volume of traffic remaining 
the same. 

But as already said, Michigan is not tied to any one type of con¬ 
struction. This is clearly shown by the different classes of roads 
already built. At the close of the last fiscal year, June 30, 1914, 
there had been completed 2437 miles of State rewarded roads in 
Michigan representing the following classes: 52 J miles of sand-clay 
or thin gravel roads; 1,570J miles of standard gravel roads; 77 miles 
of macadam base and gravel top roads; 23 miles of gravel base 
and macadam top roads; 647J miles of macadam roads, mostly plain 
and water bonded; and 67 miles of concrete roads. It will be noted 
that most of these roads are suited only to light volume traffic and 
when it is considered that the average cost of all classes is not far 
from $3000 a mile, it must be admitted that Michigan is not in 
danger of the re-action against the high priced road mentioned in 
Mr. Hooker's paper. 


170 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


November 11,2 p.m. 

Mr. James H. MacDonald in the Chair. 

The Chairman: The convention will please come to order. I 
want to make a little apology for sounding the gavel 26 minutes 
past two, when the meeting was supposed to be called to order at 
2 o’clock, but the fact is there was no one here just promptly at 
2 o’clock; we have grown into the habit of being just a little tardy 
and while the machinery is helpful in the highest degree in road 
building, in my judgment these sessions are more important than 
the machinery end of them. I find myself, ladies and gentlemen, 
somewhat embarrassed; I had expected to deliver a talk on the 
past and present and future, in other words, yesterday, today and 
tomorrow in road building, but I had not learned that I was to pre¬ 
side over the session. So it rather embarrasses me, having sat 
sometimes in my little life at a banquet where I was a speaker and 
having the toastmaster introduce the next speaker at length and 
then interlard or extend his remarks; that was a very uncomfortable 
place. At the same time 1 feel that in justice to the delightful 
hospitality which has been extended to us here, that I ought to say 
something in appreciation. To me this is a singularly pleasant 
opportunity to be here in Atlanta. Forty years ago my little wife 
and I made a visit here and as we looked the situation over, the 
streets and the air of inactivity on every side with practically only 
three streets that made any pretention to being streets, Decatur, 
Marietta and Peachtree Streets; I come back hers after 40 years 
and I see the little people of 15,000 have grown to a multitude, 
200,000; I find the little hamlet of houses have been supplanted and 
been added to, not only the delightful homes of the people but the 
magnificent structures on every side. I have travelled at home and 
abroad in this great work. I have never seen anything to equal 
the growth that is so manifest as it is to me here in this city of 
Atlanta. The delightful hospitality extended to the wife and myself 
will always remain as a pleasant memory to both of us. So it is 
a great delight to come back here and to go through the scenes 
which are so vividly impressed on our minds as the sweetest part 
of our lifetime, the early memories, and live over again those days. 
I am happy to say we have with us today President Harrison of 
the Southern Railway Company. He is acceptably filling the posi¬ 
tion occupied by Mr. Finley, he is on the Executive Committee of 
this great Association. He has been an ardent good roads man for 
many, many years. The great question of transportation appeals 
to him very closely and we are glad to have him with us today. 
He is destined to be, if I may prophesy from the point of view of 
intimate personal knowledge, one of the greatest railroad authorities 
we have in this country, and this convention is highly honored 
when we have such a man as President Harrison to speak to us on 
this great question today. I take great pleasure of introducing 
President Fairfax Harrison. 


SELECTING ROADS TO BE IMPROVED 


171 


SELECTING ROADS TO BE IMPROVED 

By Fairfax Harrison 
President , Southern Railway Company 

In the early days of the good roads movement, a meeting such 
as this in the South would properly have devoted its time largely 
to emphasizing the advantages of good roads, but, while educational 
campaigns to teach the value of good roads are no longer needed 
in the South, the holding of the American Road Congress in Atlanta 
will tend to stimulate the good roads movement in all of the south¬ 
ern States. As soon as the present, business depression, growing 
out of the effect of the European war on the market for cotton, 
has passed away, as it surely will, and when the onward progress 
of the South has been resumed, one of the ways in which it will 
be manifested will be in greater activity in road building. 

When road improvement is taken up in any community, it is 
important that it be started right, and I shall venture to speak to 
you briefly on what, I think, is one of the most important matters 
that must be decided before actual work can be commenced. That 
is: the selection of the roads to be improved. 

It is almost invariably true that the community embarking on 
a policy of highway improvement is not financially able to rebuild 
all of its roads at one time. Those in charge of its road policy must 
decide which of the roads shall be improved at once and which shall 
be left for the future. The answer must be found in the peculiar 
needs of each community. 

There is a glamour about the mere suggestion of a great through 
highway traversing several States, connecting widely separated cities, 
and traveled by tourists from distant parts of the country. The 
very history of such roads is fascinating, as, for example, that of 
the Cumberland road or the national highway which pierced the 
West in the early days of the nineteenth century. Under modern 
conditions such a road may benefit the owners of touring cars, and 
its use by them may scatter some few dollars in the different com¬ 
munities which it traverses, but it will benefit relatively few farmers 
—only those who live along its line. In a community where the 
principal industry is conducting hotels for tourists, the improve¬ 
ment of roads with special reference to attracting automobile travel 
may be desirable, but, generally speaking, I doubt whether the best 
use that can be made of a limited road fund will be in the construc¬ 
tion of a through highway of this kind. 

The statesman of road building must consider what permanent 
value the road may serve in developing a country, and under our 
conditions in the South this consideration points inevitably to the 
farmer as the class most to be considered in road planning. 

A good country highway is helpful, directly or indirectly, to all 
those who live in town as well as those who live in the country, 


172 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


but it is primarily beneficial to the farmer. It is his highway to 
market. He and his family must use it in all of the social inter¬ 
course of the neighborhood and in church and school attendance. 
It is over the country road that the rural mail carrier brings to the 
farmer his letters and the newspapers which keep him in touch with 
the events of the world. While it is not generally appreciated, 
because few farmers keep books in which they take account of their 
own time and that of their teams as well as of their hired men, 
statistics prepared by the United States Department of Agriculture 
show that the cost of hauling farm products to a shipping station 
is a very large percentage of the total cost of their carriage to their 
final markets and is out of all proportion to the charges made for 
their transportation by rail or water. An improved road reduces 
this cost and has the effect of bringing outlying farms nearer to the 
shipping point by reducing the time required for hauling, and it 
tends to advance the value of each farm that it passes. 

On account of the great interest of the farmer in good roads, I 
believe that those responsible for the road policy of any community 
should endeavor to expend such funds as may be available so that 
the largest possible number of farmers may be benefited and that 
this may be accomplished by improving first the roads that radiate 
from a market town or shipping station. 

If the amount of money available is quite small, it may be neces¬ 
sary to limit expenditures, for a time, to a single road, but where 
sufficient money can be obtained, the benefits will be more widely 
distributed if the money can be expended on several, or all, of the 
important roads radiating from the town. While it is possible that, 
on a given road, the greatest benefits will be obtained by spending 
the money that may be available for it in improving some par¬ 
ticularly bad part of the road at a distance from the town, the gen¬ 
eral policy, I believe, should be the improvement, first, of that part 
of the road leading out from the town. If the policy of dividing the 
money available among several roads rather than concentrating it 
on a single road shall be adopted, it may not be practicable to 
improve an extended mileage on any one of the roads. This will, 
however, permit the largest number of people to share in the benefits, 
for the farmer driving into town from any direction, even though 
he may live beyond the end of the good road, will have an improved 
highway for at least part of his haul to town. Then, as additional 
funds become available, from year to year, each of these roads may 
be extended further into the country, until, in time, they form 
connections with similar radiating roads constructed by other com¬ 
munities, and the entire locality is provided with a network of good 
roads. 

While a system of radiating roads of this kind will benefit the 
farmer primarily, it will also be helpful to the town. In an agri¬ 
cultural community, without substantial manufacturing enterprises, 
the town is practically supported by the trade of the farmers of 


SELECTING ROADS TO BE IMPROVED 


173 


the surrounding country. A good road, to the degree that it may 
enable a farmer to market to better advantage, increases his pur¬ 
chasing power to the benefit of the merchants in the town where 
he may trade. Improved highways radiating from a town widen 
the area from within which the farmer may profitably market his 
products and buy his supplies in the town. Good roads in any 
community are also an important factor in attracting farm settlers, 
who will bring increased trade to the town. 

But we have in the South many purely industrial towns and cities 
which may seem not to depend largely on any back country—towns 
in which the trade of the surrounding farmers is relatively of little 
importance in the total volume of their business. Such towns are 
nevertheless interested in developing systems of radiating roads such 
as I have suggested. Even in the largest city, a certain element of 
the population is concerned, directly or indirectly, in the trade of 
the surrounding country and every resident is almost as much inter¬ 
ested in building up nearby sources of cheap and fresh supplies for 
his produce market as he is in the maintenance of good schools. 
With bad roads that are almost impassable during certain seasons 
of the year the area within which milk, and perishable articles gen¬ 
erally, can be successfully produced for the city market, is restricted. 
With improved roads this area is greatly extended. A system of 
good roads out of a city may mean, for a large part of the popula¬ 
tion, the difference between fresh food and the cold storage warehouse. 

I may emphasize the point I am endeavoring to make by citing 
the concrete example of Mecklenberg County, North Carolina. That 
county was one of the first in the State systematically to take up 
the matter of road improvement. The United States census reports 
show that in the twenty years from 1890 to 1910, the population 
of Mecklenberg County increased 57 per cent, as compared with 
an increase of but 36 per cent for the State of North Carolina as 
a whole, and the population of Charlotte, the county seat, increased, 
in the same period, 194 per cent, a more rapid rate of growth than 
was shown by any other incorporated place of relatively the same 
size in the State. The value of all farm property in Mecklenberg 
County in 1910, as reported by the Census Bureau, was greater 
than in any other county in the State with the exception of but 
one county with one and three-fourth times the area of Mecklenberg 
County, and the value of farm lands, per acre, was greater than in 
any other county in the State with a single exception. Other fac¬ 
tors have contributed to the progress of Mecklenberg County, but 
we may fairly attribute part of its growth in population and wealth 
to its enlightened road policy. 

Other southern counties might be cited showing similar progress 
following the construction of improved country highways radiating 
from a central market town, and I believe that, wherever this policy 
may be adopted, its wisdom will be demonstrated by results. 


174 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


A Member: We have with us this afternoon another president 
of a great railroad system who has taken a great deal of interest in 
good roads all over the country; I refer to the President of the Nash¬ 
ville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway. This gentleman is known 
and loved and trusted by the people of the South and I feel sure 
we will be glad to have a few words from Mr. John Howe Peyton, 
President of the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway. 

Mr. Peyton : I feel that this is an imposition because it is break¬ 
ing into the program of the afternoon, and I will have to ask to be 
excused. I would like to express my hearty and sincere sympathy 
with the work that you are promoting and my desire to assist in 
pushing it forward. I feel that I would be imposing on your good 
nature to further interrupt the program. 

The Chairman: No, I think not; come right up and we will 
be glad to hear you. 

Mr. Peyton: Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen: I must repeat what 
I have just said from the floor, I am afraid I am imposing upon 
you in thus breaking in on an admirably arranged program. 

Since, however, you have been so good as to insist on my expressing 
my views as to the work you have in hand, I am glad to take ad¬ 
vantage of the opportunity. 

My enthusiastic and most worthy friend, Mr. Meyer, of Carthage, 
Tennessee, is doing splendid work in his State as a leader in mould¬ 
ing a public sentiment favorable to the construction and mainte¬ 
nance of good highways in Tennessee. I am heartily in sympathy 
with him and shall try to hold up his hands and assist him in such 
efforts. 

Mr. Harrison, who has just preceded me, and has read a most 
able paper in your hearing, modestly states that he is not an engi¬ 
neer or constructor and therefore not in position to discuss details 
of good roads either as to construction or maintenance. You may 
be interested to know that before I became president of the Nash¬ 
ville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway I had been, for thirty- 
two years, in the active practice of civil engineering. 

I am therefore not only deeply interested in the matters that you 
have met here to discuss but fairly well equipped to assist you. 

I am persuaded that the agricultural interests of our country are 
paramount in importance, but that successful and progressive agri¬ 
cultural development is not possible without adequate provision for 
transportation by means of good highways from the farms to the 
railroads and good and efficiently managed railroads leading thence 
to the markets. 

Being thus persuaded, and being devoted to my country, I am 
doing all in my power to promote scientific agriculture; good highway 
construction and maintenance, and good railroad construction and 
operation. 


HEAVY TRAFFIC ROADS 


175 


I came here seeking information that may make me more efficient 
in furthering the highway projects in my State. 

I thank you heartily for giving me this opportunity to look you 
in the face and now I am going to listen most attentively to the 
papers that are to be read by the gentlemen whom you have selected 
as most competent to instruct us. 

The Chairman: There are many questions that come up for 
our consideration in road building, but there are no questions that 
have come up to disturb the commissioners more than to take care 
of this great question of the heavy traffic roads. Of course we 
know that the macadam road will wear out and the gravel road will 
wear out, the brick road will wear out and indeed the great presi¬ 
dents of these railroads will tell you that they have never been 
able to put that little piece of rail down yet but what they had to 
be replaced. I have sometimes thought that there is nothing in 
this world but what will wear out except perhaps it might be the 
mercy of God, and that is sometimes severely tried. One of our 
citizens happened to go through Maryland, and we are pretty proud 
of our roads up in Connecticut and think pretty well of them and I 
want to tell you that it is not with any feeling of envy or jealousy 
that I relate to this convention what he said to me, for I served 
Connecticut 18 years as commissioner. He said, “Mr. MacDonald, 
I never rode over better roads since I have been on that car, and 
it has been a good many years, than I rode over in Maryland.” 
We have with us today a gentleman who assisted materially in 
bringing about that condition of affairs, Mr. Henry G. Shirley, and 
I take great pleasure in introducing him. 

HEAVY TRAFFIC ROADS 

By Henry G. Shirley 

Chief Engineer, State Roads Commission of Maryland 

The rapid change that has taken place, and which is daily taking 
place in the character of traffic on our highways, makes the selec¬ 
tion of the type of surface more difficult each day for the highway 
engineer. In selecting a type of surfacing for any particular road, 
the engineer not only has to study the amount and kind of traffic 
that daily passes over the road, but has to make a very comprehen¬ 
sive study of the amount and kind of traffic that will probably pass 
over the road in the future, by virtue of the development of the 
surrounding territory on account of the improved road. 

The writer has made studies of roads where the traffic, before 
improvement, consisted of light vehicles and nothing heavier than 
two-horse loads, but as soon as the road was reconstructed, the 
amount of traffic increased from 50 to 300 per cent, and the loads 
from light two-ton loads to ten to twelve-ton motor trucks, and 


176 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


fourteen to eighteen-ton tractors. He also recalls constructing a 
section of road through a very sparsely settled section, and estimat¬ 
ing that it would be quite a long time before the adjacent territory 
would be more thickly populated, and accordingly selected a soft 
local limestone for the metal surfacing, but which had sufficient 
strength and hardness to carry the traffic that was passing over the 
road at that time. Scarcely had the road been completed when 
several large tracts of woodland, not a great distance from the road, 
were cut down, and the lumber was transported on wagons, drawn 
by large traction engines with cleats, over the road to the railroad 
station. The effect of this heavy traffic on the soft limestone sur¬ 
face can be easily surmised. 

Drainage of a road-bed that is required to carry heavy traffic, 
should be well taken care of by tile or other sub-surface drains, so 
as to render the sub-foundation as dry and firm as possible. The 
maximum grade should not exceed a 6 per cent, and the alignment 
should be as straight as possible, with all sharp curves and bends 
eliminated. The width of the roadway and the width and thick¬ 
ness of the metal surfacing should be designed to meet the require¬ 
ments of the present as well as the future traffic which it will have 
to accommodate, but the minimum width should not be less than 
30 feet, nor the metal surfacing less than 18 feet. Broken stone or 
gravel make a fair foundation, but concrete is almost as cheap and 
is more preferable. 

The thickness of macadam and gravel should not be less than 
5 inches after rolling, nor more than 10 inches, while concrete should 
not be less than 4 inches, nor more than 8 inches, depending pri¬ 
marily, upon the character of the soil of the sub-base, and the inten¬ 
sity and character of traffic it will have to sustain. In some cases 
where the loads are very heavy, but the number of loads small, 
it has been found economical to lay a strip of high-class and durable 
pavement in the middle of the road for a width of 9 to 14 feet, with 
a cheaper and less durable material on each side. 

Before selecting the type of pavement to be used, a close and 
accurate census of the different kinds of traffic should be taken, a 
very thorough study made of the surrounding section, and an esti¬ 
mate made as to the possible increase of the different kinds of traffic, 
or the decrease of one kind and the large increase of the other. It is 
the opinion of the writer that in no other line of engineering should 
there be a larger factor of safety used than in estimating the amount, 
intensity, and kind of motor and self-propelled traffic that will pass 
over our improved roads in the near future. The great change in 
the character of traffic developed in the past five years, is but a 
small index to what can be expected in the next five years to come. 

The types of pavements used on heavy traffic roads should be 
selected as to their fitness to stand the kind and intensity of the 
traffic that will travel them. Roads in the outlaying districts, where 
horse-drawn traffic comprises the larger percentage should be con¬ 
structed of macadam with a light surface treatment. Concrete will 


HEAVY TRAFFIC ROADS 


177 


also be found serviceable and desirable. Where motor traffic is in 
the majority, bituminous macadam or concrete will give good results. 
Near the centers of population, where the traffic is mixed and heavy, 
concrete, bituminous concrete, asphalt or vitrified brick will prove 
the most economical. Where the heavy traffic is concentrated, brick, 
asphalt or stone block are the most suitable. 

There can be given no hard and set rule for selecting the type of 
construction that should be used on a given section of road to carry 
a known traffic. For local conditions, the availability of materials, 
etc., play such an important part in the selection of the type of 
surfacing in any localitv, that each individual case must be worked 
out on its own merits. 

The following method of selecting a type of surfacing to carry 
an estimated traffic, however, will prove fairly accurate where a 
study can be made and the maintenance cost can be had of roads 
constructed and maintained under similar conditions: 

Where the annual cost of maintenance of a less durable type of 
road surfacing will exceed the annual cost of maintenance of a more 
durable type of surfacing, plus 4 per cent on the excess cost of the 
more durable type over the less durable type, the more durable 
type should be used, and vice versa. 

The maintenance on heavy traffic roads should be continuous and 
thorough—never allowing the surface to remain broken any length 
of time, but as soon as the slightest defect or indication of failure 
appears, it should be speedily repaired. 

The writer cannot close this paper on “ Heavy Traffic Roads” 
without calling the attention of the Congress to the great necessity 
for having adequate laws to regulate the heavy loads that have to 
be borne by the surface of the many hundreds of miles of roads that 
have been and are daily being constructed. The manufacturers of 
tractors, motor trucks, and other hauling engines, have given but 
little study to the effect and injury that is being done and may be 
done by the heavy loads propelled over the road surface, and the 
strain and stress caused by narrow tires, steel cleats, ribs, and other 
devices, but it seems that the greater amount of their energies have 
been to develop an engine or motor truck that will haul the largest 
load in the shortest period of time, using the least amount of fuel— 
all of which is very commendable, but it is the duty, as well as to 
the welfare of these manufacturers, to devote quite as much energy 
and brains in constructing their engines and motor trucks in such 
a way that the least amount of damage will be done to the surfacing 
in passing over the roads. It is most important that the manu¬ 
facturers of hauling equipment and highway engines should work 
together in framing a set of adequate laws controlling the use of 
hauling equipment over improved roads, as well as developing wheels 
and other devices so as to do the road surfacing the least amount of 
damage. By cooperating and working together, large sums can be 
annually saved on maintenance, which will greatly benefit all 
concerned. 


178 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


The Chairman : I think that if the title of this address had been 
changed to read “What is the Best Material to Use Upon Heavy 
Traffic Roads/’ that quite a number of gentlemen who are out here 
selling material would have been in the hall and would have filled 
it up. I remember one time hearing a man say that if people would 
buy one of his grates they would save half the coal, if they bought 
two they would save all the coal and if they bought three of his 
grates they would have coal to sell. We are going to have this 
discussion opened by a gentleman who is Superintendent of Public 
Works of Fulton County, Georgia, Mr. William A. Hansel, Jr. 
Those of us who have been privileged to go out here in Fulton County 
and see the splendid system or roads that he has developed and 
know that this has all taken place within the last 15 years—I want 
to tell you it has been a stupendous operation, and under the con¬ 
dition which he had to contend with, this red mud of Georgia, he 
has solved a difficult problem. He has built the roads not only 
where the people live but where the people are going to live in these 
little isolated places, and it is a pretty good lesson for all of us 
commissioners who have had to do with this great question for so 
many years. I take pleasure in introducing Mr. Hansel. 

Mr. Hansel: It is but just to my predecessor in office to state 
that the good words the chairman has spoken about our roads are 
not due to me; I have only been with the county a few months, 
while my predecessor has been with the county 27 years and most 
of the good work is his and not mine. However, I hope to continue 
the work he has started. Mr. Shirley has so covered the subject 
that I shall have no opportunity to bring out new points but I would 
like to particularly emphasize some parts of his paper. The first 
thing is, of course, to make as thorough a study of the traffic condi¬ 
tions as is possible, with a comprehensive investigation as to the 
materials locally available and the ability of local labor to use these 
materials. After this has been done the road selected must be the 
one that best serves its purpose and whose cost stays within the 
money appropriated for its construction. Quite frequently we are 
obliged to put down what we know is not best, because the money 
for the proper construction is not available. It is sometimes possi¬ 
ble to get a good road by putting a narrow strip of expensive mate¬ 
rial in the center and paving with less expensive material on the 
sides. It is much better to have 12 feet of good road and a cheap 
gutter than a cheap road the full width. A rubble side pavement 
costs very little and if given a finish of cement grout makes a very 
good substitute for an expensive road. You can see this being put 
in on the concrete road now under construction here. A plain 
macadam road is a fairly good road and if given a surface treat¬ 
ment of road oil or some similar coating it is much improved. If 
the road indicated is macadam it does not cost much more to make 
a penetration bituminous macadam or a concrete road and either 


DISCUSSION 


179 


is much better. If you have more money to spend, a mixed method 
bituminous macadam is still better or using a concrete base, asphalt, 
brick, wood block or granite block. Where the money to be in¬ 
vested is little, heavy traffic can be cared for by sand-clay and top 
soil roads if the maintenance is continuous. Where a pavement 
laid on a concrete base is indicated, it would usually be cheaper to 
make the entire pavement of concrete and with the present rich 
mixtures very satisfactory results are obtained. Whatever the road, 
it is very necessary, after taking care of drainage, to see that all 
ditches are properly refilled and tamped from the bottom up. Too 
frequently an otherwise splendid job is marred by the sinking in 
of a ditch and the accompanying bad place in the pavement. It 
costs little to fix the subgrade properly and bring a rich reward in 
the permanence of the job. The foundation of the roadway should 
not be too thin or if of concrete, too lean. However perfect the 
studies made, the conclusions reached as to type of pavement, the 
specifications, the material contracted for and the intentions of all 
parties concerned there will not be a good road without proper 
and continuous inspection. Too often an inspector is appointed 
because he can control so many votes or because he is a jolly good 
fellow or because he needs the job rather than because he is com¬ 
petent. Hasten the day when an inspector is appointed solely 
because he knows his business and will attend to it. After your 
proper type of road is properly constructed comes the trying time. 
If a top soil or sand clay road, keep it dragged; if macadam, keep 
the little places stopped; if surface treated, patch the little bare 
places; if bituminous macadam, cut out the little breaks and refill 
them and so on down the line but never lose sight of the three rules 
for good roads, (1) maintain them, (2) maintain them, (3) maintain 
them. Some of our roadways because of lack of maintenance make 
me think of George Washington Johnson, colored, the leader of a 
church choir. His rector went to Boston to get money to build 
a new Episcopal Church and was much taken with the “High 
Church” forms he saw there, particularly the use of the burning 
incense carried in the processional. He determined to try it at 
home and rigged up a tin can with some brass chain of limited 
length so that it kept the can rather near the hand of the bearer. 
The choir was duly trained, and G. W. J. chosen the bearer of the 
wondrous innovation. At the first public appearance the church 
was packed and the rector led his forces down the center aisle in 
great glory. When he reached the altar and turned to face the 
procession his astonishment was unbounded on noting the absence 
of the incense vessel. He was too game to show his surprise openly, 
but intoned, “What have you done with the incense pot?” G. W. 
J. was equally game and answered, “Dropped it on the floor it was 
so blamed hot.” Maintenance is “hot stuff” but let us grit our 
teeth and do it rather than letting our roads go to pieces. 


180 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


The Chairman: We will continue the discussion on this great 
question by asking Mr. Charles Warner, of Wilmington, Delaware, 
to give us a few remarks. 

Mr. Warner: As a sincere friend and firm believer in concrete 
for road construction, I present this paper touching on its deficiencies 
and lines of correction. Most engineers and contractors have over¬ 
looked important principles in handling concrete for this purpose. 
H. Purvis Taylor, Richard K. Meade, Sanford E. Thompson, E. W. 
Lazell, Ira H. Woolson, Henry S. Spackman, American Society for 
Testing Materials, Government Bureau of Standards and other prom¬ 
inent engineers and societies have called attention to the following 
important principles and the best methods of making concrete meet 
these desirable points: 

First: Homogenity and plasticity with a minimum of segregation 
while mixing and placing. 

Second: Elimination of shrinkage during the preliminary harden¬ 
ing period. 

Third: Minimizing porosity and permeability to moisture after 
hardening. 

Fourth: Minimizing expansion and contraction due to moisture 
changes. The intermittent stresses produced in the relatively thin 
slabs employed in concrete roads by the pressure of heavy wheels 
and by the exposure to the weather make the full recognition of the 
above principles of the most vital importance. 

This paper will summarize the conclusions of the above promi¬ 
nent engineers and societies on the effect of hydrated lime in con¬ 
crete mixtures as bearing on these principles. Hydrated lime, now 
regularly manufactured by over 80 plants in the United States, is 
a soft, dry, bulky material. Portland cement is comparatively 
coarse, sandy, heavy and dense. When mixed with sand, stone 
and water, there is a marked tendency to segregation of the cement. 
The wetter mixes of concrete used to facilitate its placing aggravate 
this condition. “Stone pockets” are commonly observed in inspec¬ 
tion of concrete work. The reason is evident on watching the flow 
of concrete upon placing. The direct effect of hydrate additions 
is to make a fat unctuous concrete, which will flow better and segre¬ 
gate less in transmission. 

Spackman said in a recent address before an engineering society: 
“Durability of concrete is dependent more on uniform distribution 
of the cement through the mass than on the actual quantity of 
cement in the concrete.” 

Edwards, of Edwards and Lazell, engineers, Portland, Oregon, in 
a recent pamphlet said: “The properties of plasticity and homo¬ 
geneity which small percentages of hydrated lime give to concrete 
cannot be secured in any other way at so little added expense for 
the material used.” 

For these reasons several of these engineers claim that hydrated 


DISCUSSION 


181 


lime is an insurance against poor workmanship and conveying 
methods which cause segregation. 

The question of shrinkage during preliminary setting has been 
tested extensively by the Spackman laboratories of Philadelphia 
during the past two years. Spackman has proven that the ordinary 
concrete used under the usual road conditions shows marked shrink¬ 
age the first 24 hours before hardening. Spackman further reports 
that the best methods of protecting the top of the fresh concrete 
only partially offset seepage of the gauging water through the sub¬ 
base. This seepage naturally produces shrinkage and developsin- 
cipient fractures which later become cracks and lines of weakness. 

In test slabs of concrete with hydrate additions made coinci- 
dently, the result during this tender age was decidedly different. 
In Concrete Cement Age, March, 1914, Spackman states that, “with 
the draining off of the excess gauging water, there is a marked shrink¬ 
age in the 24-hour period” and later adds: “The addition of hydrated 
lime.markedly reduces the shrinkage due to drain¬ 

ing off of the surplus gauging water and also reduces the extent of 
the movement of the test pieces when alternately wet and dry,” 
etc. 

The direct effect of permanent waterproofing of concrete slabs 
by the use of hydrated lime additions was discussed thoroughly in 
a series of pamphlets and articles issued by Lazell several years ago. 
Lazell first analyzes various waterproofing methods and concludes 
that the introduction of some foreign material or materials into the 
mixture is the best principle to work upon. He then analyzes the 
characteristics of such a material, stating that: 

A material to fully meet the requirements should have a mineral base and 
should be composed chiefly of lime so as to be similar to cement in its chemi¬ 
cal composition. It would therefore seem that hydrated lime would be a 
material that would most nearly fill the requirements. Clay has been sug¬ 
gested as a suitable material but its use in practice would be impractical owing 
to the tendency of its particles to adhere, forming balls. These balls have 
little adhesion and hence would injure the strength of the concrete. 

Quoting again from a report of Committee D-8 on waterproofing 
materials of the American Society for Testing Materials: 

In general, more desirable results are obtainable from inert compounds 
acting mechanically, than from active compounds whose efficiency depends 
on change of form through chemical action after addition to concrete; 

Void-filling substances are more to be relied upon than those whose value 
depends on repellant action. Assuming average quality in sizing of the 
aggregates and reasonably good workmanship in the mixing and placing of 
the concretes, the addition of 10 to 20 per cent of very finely divided void¬ 
filling mineral substances may be expected to result in the production of 
concrete which under ordinary conditions of exposure will be found imper¬ 
meable, provided the work joints are properly bonded, and cracks do not 
develop on drying or through change in volume due to atmospheric changes, 
or by settlement. 

On the point of endeavoring to secure this result by richer cement 
mixtures in the concrete, this same report says: 


182 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


It has been suggested that impermeable concretes could be assured by 
using mixtures considerably richer in cement. While such practice would 
probably result in an immediate impermeable concrete, it is believed by many 
that the advantage is only temporary, as richer concretes are more subject 
to check cracking and are less constant in volume under changes of condi¬ 
tions of temperature, moisture, etc. Therefore, the use of more cement in 
mass concrete would cause increased cracking, unless some means of con¬ 
trolling the expansion and contraction be discovered. 

The Bureau of Standards at Washington in its exhaustive report 
on waterproofing cement mortar states: 

This is the most efficient medium and results in an almost impermeable 
mortar at the two weeks’ test. Its value is probably due to its void filling 
properties and the same results could be expected from any other finely ground 
inert material, such as sand, clay, etc. 

The word “this” refers to hydrated lime used in these tests. 

While from the standpoint of producing a waterproof concrete, 
the various substances mentioned other than hydrated lime might 
prove equally effective, their use as a substitute for hydrated lime 
would not give the same plasticity to the mortars or concretes. 
It would seem dangerous in view of the well known bad effect on 
the strength of concrete, of silt, fine sand and clay matter in the 
sand, to add such material to concrete roads, whereas in adding 
hydrated lime, a material is used that is mildly cementitious in 
itself, has a different physical action and no risk should be assumed. 

Spackman in a recent address before an engineering society in 
Baltimore stated: 

The greater plasticity and readiness to flow into place observed in the use 
of hydrated lime in concretes is probably a void-preventative and therefore 
aids in completing the void-filling action noticeable by the use of small pro¬ 
portions of hydrated lime. 

Both Taylor and Thompson during the past eight years have 
exhaustively tested this vital principle of waterproofing concrete 
so particularly essential in road construction. In their reports made 
at different times to the American Society for Testing Materials, 
they show most conclusively the large improvement coming from 
small additions of hydrated lime in producing practically water¬ 
proof results. 

One run of tests by Thompson illustrates: A 1-3-5 concrete under 
water pressure of 60 pounds to the square inch had its flow per 
hour reduced from 70.6 down to 0.7 grams by the addition of 20 
per cent of hydrated lime. In this important series of tests, Thomp¬ 
son brings out the point also observed by Spackman and other 
engineers that: 

The cost of large waterproof concrete structures frequently may be reduced 
by employing leaner proportions of concrete with hydrated lime mixtures, 
and small structures, such as tanks, may be made more watertight. 


DISCUSSION 


183 


This observation leads to the special problem of leanness in con¬ 
crete mixtures and its resultant economy. As referred to above in 
the report of Committee D-8 of the American Society for Testing 
Materials, and as generally known, the richer a cement mixture, 
the greater the expansion and contraction under moisture changes. 
Spackman illustrates this by observing that neat cement moves 
approximately four times that of a 1-3-5 concrete and that a 1-2 
cement mortar will move approximately 50 per cent more than 1-3 
cement mortar under the same moisture changes. 

A neat cement mixture would move upwards of 4 inches in 100 
feet between extreme dry and wet conditions. The effect of move¬ 
ment of this kind in road slabs is evident and the importance of 
reducing such movement to the absolute minimum for the purpose 
of permanency goes without saying. Therefore, the use of the 
leanest concrete mixtures consistent with the desired strength becomes 
good practice, both for economy and permanency of construction. 

This leads to the question of toughness and strength as affected 
by hydrate additions. The extended tests made by many of these 
engineers justify the following general conclusions: 

First: By substituting 10 per cent of hydrated lime for 10 per 
cent of cement slightly lesser strengths are noted but the variations 
are immaterial as compared with variations due to other factors 
in concrete work. 

Second: By the addition of 10 per cent of hydrated lime to the 
cement ingredient slightly greater strengths are secured. (These 
substitutions and additions are by weight. 

Spackman further made tests on toughness or, more properly, 
wearing characteristics, by tumbler. The concrete with hydrated 
lime addition lost 0.6 per cent by weight as against a loss of 1.5 
per cent by the corresponding sample of straight concrete under 
similar conditions. Spackman attributes the improvement to the 
greater homogeneity and uniformity naturally resulting in the sample 
using the hydrated addition. 

In conclusion, I wish to point out the following: 

First: That hydrated lime is now manufactured by many plants 
under the same strict chemical control as used in the best cement 
mills and so far as care in its manufacture is concerned, is as safe a 
material to use as Portland cement. 

Second: The American Society for Testing Materials has recog¬ 
nized the position of this material and is standardizing it. Tentative 
specifications have already been adopted as a guide for the use of 
engineers to assure a sound and reliable hydrated lime. 

Third: Hydrated lime and Portland cement are neutral and there 
are no unknown or uncertain chemical actions to set up. There¬ 
fore, there need be no fear or concern of any uncertain chemical or 
physical action in the use of hydrated lime in any concrete or cement 
mortar work. 

Fourth: Short stretches of concrete, say 100 feet or thereabouts 


184 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


will not demonstrate the average improved results in the use of 
hydrated lime. If it is agreed that the principles set forth in this 
paper are sound, then relatively large sections of permanent roads 
under construction, say 500 to 1000 feet, should be subjected to 
hydrated lime addition and the average result of these hydrated 
sections should be compared with the result of several miles of 
straight concrete sections constructed under the same general average 
conditions. 

For these various reasons, I therefore urge as most important the 
study and practical development of hydrated lime in concrete for 
all road work. If the conclusions drawn from extensive work and 
study of the prominent engineers referred to mean anything, they 
mean that much better concrete results from the judicious use of 
hydrated lime. 

With these deficiencies covered in a practical manner, we have 
in concrete a road material of great value. 

The Chairman: The discussion will be continued by Mr. Paul 
Hannagan, Mayor of the city of Lawrence, Massachusetts and also 
Commissioner of Engineering. 

Mr. Hannagan : I come from a section of our country where 
granite is plenty; where the great adamantine ribs of the earth come 
near the surface and crop out into giant hills and puny mountains. 

We are near the highest point of land in the northeastern sec¬ 
tion of our country, Mount Washington, which towers over 6000 
feet above the sea. 

The great ice floe of the last continental glacial epoch of ten 
thousand or a hundred thousand years ago, as you may please to 
estimate the time, passed over the section where I make my home. 
It planed down the mountains and filled up the valleys. 

So while we have beautifully wooded hills and smiling and fertile 
valleys the highest point of land is low when compared with the lofty 
peaks of the Rockies. 

The ice floe did a good work not only in levelling things up tre¬ 
mendously but in scraping off the softer rocks which may have 
formed on top of the earlier formation, leaving vast stretches of the 
bare granite rock bleaching under our torrid summer’s sun or sub¬ 
jected to great contraction stresses in our frigid New England 
winters. 

So we naturally turn to this material, lying at our very doors, for 
much of our paving material. It is ideal in many ways and we think 
we are especially fortunate in this respect. Other sections of the 
country, I know, are as fortunate as we are. 

I have read of the old Roman roads. Of that wonderful Appian 
Way, running out from imperial Rome for an unbroken stretch of 
350 miles, begun more than 300 years before the Christian era. How 
after a lapse of nearly 1000 years it was reported to still be in per¬ 
fect condition, and that even now parts of it are still in use. 


DISCUSSION 


185 


It was built generally 3 feet deep of stones laid in mortar, with 
a wearing surface of flat stones of irregular shape carefully fitted 
together. An undertaking which in our day would be prohibitive 
on account of its expense. It was not more than 18 feet wide in 
its greatest width, and I think I have seen it estimated that such 
construction would cost some $250,000 a mile today. 

I have read too of the old Roman roads built by that great people 
in their conquered province of Britain. How they ran north and 
south, and east and west, giving access to all parts of the province 
for use in keeping the native people in subjugation. 

In Queen Elizabeth’s time these roads had been entirely neglected 
and many of them were impassable. In fact at that time England 
had no good roads. About London they were said to be fair, but 
sandy. In the country districts the traveller floundered through 
mud and tumbled over boulders. The roads were practically im¬ 
passable to vehicles, in fact, none could be had for hire outside of 
London. Travel was almost entirely on horseback. There were few 
bridges and what there were were generally the gift of the church 
or individuals. For the most part streams had to be forded. The 
foot traveller, if the stream were narrow, passed over perhaps on 
a timber which had been felled across, and he was lucky if a hand 
rail had been provided for his safety. 

All down through the eighteenth century there was little improve¬ 
ment, and it was not until MacAdam and Telford began their work 
that street building became in any way a science. 

Every road builder is familiar with their methods, and every city 
in this country where any stone is to be had has miles and miles of 
water bound macadam. So common is it that we even spell the 
name with a little “m.” 

The natural resources of New England furnish some of the best 
materials for this method of construction. We have plenty of the 
hard rocks suitable for macadam, and until the automobile came 
it was in many ways the best form of construction for country roads 
and also for city streets of light traffic. 

Large areas of Massachusetts furnish field stone in quantities. 
They were the foot balls, the marbles, of the great continental 
glacier. They have been rolled about, rubbed down and sand¬ 
papered by nature’s titantic forces for ages and ages. Much that 
was soft has been ground into sand and dust. We have great hills 
of perfect mortar sand, sharp and bright. The larger part of the 
boulders that are left are hard and furnish a fair road material if 
the softer ones are carefully culled out. 

The old race which first settled our section piled up these stones 
into walls for dividing the land. They climb over hills too barren 
even for a sheep pasture, and run down into valleys and swamps 
where the land seems hardly worth dividing up. 

These walls have been a mine of modest wealth in the vicinity 
of every city, furnishing an easily accessible source for stone for 


186 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


foundations and later for crushing, particularly for concrete. If 
considered too soft for a wearing surface for macadam they are at 
least hard enough for the foundation courses. 

Under automobile traffic, macadam, in all the more heavily traveled 
roads, is proving unsatisfactory. It is so in my section of the country, 
and I think it is the general opinion everywhere. 

Because of the proximity of my city to the great source, the great 
quarries of granite, I have turned my attention particularly to the 
development of granite pavements. We are told that the great 
items to be considered in street pavements are cost, smoothness, 
noiselessness, durability, sanitary conditions, maintenance, ease of 
traction, non-slipperiness, ease of cleaning, etc. The granite pave¬ 
ment as I lay it meets most of these conditions perfectly. 

Originally many of our cities had cobble pavements. The city 
of Lawrence was fortunate in having only one street of that mate¬ 
rial, and that street disappeared so long ago that few remember we 
ever had one. 

Granite blocks laid in the old way with sand joints became in 
a few years under the wear of the traffic but little better than cobbles. 
The joints rounded off in a surprisingly rapid way and teams bumped 
along making a frightful noise and producing most uncomfortable 
sensations to those riding. 

The only way this particular character of wear can be prevented 
is by filling the joints with a material about as hard as the stone 
itself. We luckily now have a cement far superior to any which 
could be procured in any preceding age. So hard is it when properly 
mixed and used that it is almost as indestructible as the block itself. 

While first cost counts to quite an extent in determining the 
character of a city pavement, I have noticed that it is soon forgotten 
if the pavement proves acceptable. It is so with all great public 
improvements. While granite block may perhaps approach the high¬ 
est in point of first cost, it is really cheaper, in the long run, as no 
repairs are required. The pavement has become so universally 
acceptable in my city that no opposition has developed against laying 
it in large quantities, even to spending 25 per cent of the total city 
disbursement on this character of work in this present year. Where 
a few years ago people said they knew when they struck Lawrence 
by the bad condition of the roads, now they know Lawrence by 
coming onto streets nearly as smooth as a polished floor. 

The durability of granite block can hardly be questioned, at least 
its durability as compared with other popular pavements. It has 
one peculiarity. Where most pavements begin to deteriorate imme¬ 
diately on their being subjected to traffic, granite block, for several 
years, continually improves. This may be a surprising statement, 
but it is absolutely true. Not only does the pavement become 
smoother, but less slippery. 

All granite blocks are more or less uneven. We expect the irregu¬ 
larities will not exceed one-quarter of an inch, but even this irregu- 


DISCUSSION 


187 


larity is noticeable particularly with iron tires on an ordinary wagon, 
and the speed of an automobile seems to accentuate them. 

The cement grout, while it evens up the surface to some extent, 
is not intended to be left in any appreciable thickness on the pave¬ 
ment, so much of the original irregularity of the granite block remains 
when the street is first opened. But under the traffic these irregu¬ 
larities gradually disappear, they are ironed out in a way. So 
monolithic is the pavement that the hammering of heavy vehicles 
does not affect it in the least. 

A large part of the stone we use, preferably the quality we use, 
is the mica granite rather than the hornblende granite. Instead of 
wearing glassy with a somewhat gritty surface so that the footing 
for horses, except under exceptional conditions of ice or slime, im¬ 
proves as time goes by. 

In maintenance granite is superior to all pavements. The great 
drawback in a pavement with us is the cutting of trenches through 
it for various purposes. Sometimes it seems as though the pave¬ 
ment was hardly down before some individual discovers they must 
dig it up for some purpose. The objection against digging up the 
pavement seems to increase their desire to do it. 

In a small city where we know so many by their given name, 
where we are almost like members of one family, it is exceedingly 
difficult to stop this digging up of a new pavement. In the case of 
a State or national highway the impersonal condition of the con¬ 
trolling factor makes it easy to forbid much that a government of a 
small city finds it hard to do. However, I can repair one of my 
granite pavements so that the patch can hardly be discovered, much 
less noticed. 

Long longitudinal joints in all kinds of pavement, that is joints 
which from their location in the street can come under the direct 
line of the travel, must be avoided, for any kind of pavement will 
wear into ruts if wheels can travel along a joint. So if repairs are 
made where trenches are cut the pavement must be toothed out, 
no matter how hard the material or what the character of the joint 
filler. It makes no difference. 

In ease of traction I cannot see why smooth granite pavements 
will not stand as good a test as any other kind. I believe tables 
of resistance to traction of the various road surfaces place granite 
some distance below the top. It seems to me that these tests must 
have been made on worn pavements with sand joints or at least with 
joints filled with an elastic yielding material. With smoother granite 
pavements traction resistance will decrease with the age of the pave¬ 
ment, while with other pavements traction resistance continually 
increases. 

In ease of cleaning these granite pavements can hardly have a 
superior. They can be almost as easily swept as a hardwood floor, 
far more easily than a tar concrete sidewalk. 

They can be flushed without the least injury, even with positive 


188 


AMERICAN HOAD CONGREB8 


benefit. They respond perfectly to all kinds of mechanical cleaning. 
In themselves they are practically dustless. Their wear is almost 
infinitesimal. 

In the matter of noise there is less perhaps to be said in their 
favor. But they are less noisy than granite block having any other 
kind of filler and their merit is so great in every other particular 
that the question of noise can perhaps be put to one side for a time 
until the use of the auto in practically all of the municipal activities 
which call for transportation eliminates this question entirely, and 
then smooth granite pavements will be regarded as nearly ideal as 
anything material can be, until we pass on to the streets of gold 
in the Eternal City. 

I lay my pavement on a sand base. Only exceptional condi¬ 
tions will demand a concrete foundation. The blocks are deep, 
from 7 to 8 inches. In width they run from 3^ to 4| inches and in 
length up to 12 or 13 inches. We estimate they will lay about 24 
to the square yard. All our contracts for blocks are by the square 
yard measured after laying. We excavate by contract by the cubic 
yard. We haul the blocks by contract by the square yard, and 
we lay the blocks and finish the pavement with our own help by 
day labor. 

I have never seen a granite pavement fail because of the character 
of the blocks. Its very life depends on the treatment of the joints. 
Under my instruction and direction the men employed in doing the 
grouting on our Lawrence pavements have become adepts in the line. 
The grout is mixed one to one in special boxes by hand. Because the 
joint filling is so vital, and makes or breaks the pavement, I have 
given this particular part of the work my most careful attention 
and have prepared a set of specifications which in my opinion will 
meet all requirements. 

The Massachusetts State Highway Commission were the pioneers 
in State road construction. They experiment with every known 
pavement and keep abreast and ahead of the grand procession of 
road builders. This season, in Lawrence, they authorized me to 
build the only piece of road they have in our city, with granite blocks 
laid in the manner described in this paper. 

Within 10 years I believe the Massachusetts State Highway Com¬ 
mission will adopt granite block pavement for most of the State 
highways, and will lead the world in this method of construction. 

The Chairman: I see Brother Blair getting up to talk about 
bricks, but before listening to him we will have a few words from 
Mr. W. A. Aiken, an engineer from New York City. 

Mr. Aiken: The “test of time,” that of service endurance, is 
undoubtedly most valuable to determine the permanent effectiveness 
of any roadway material for constructive purposes. 

Anticipating this, preliminary information can be acquired through 


DISCUSSION 


189 


the application of certain accelerated mechanical tests, which from 
time to time have been standardized by their adoption by recognized 
authority and promulgated as specification tests. Several years ago 
the United States Department of Agriculture published a series of 
test results upon a number of roadway materials, among them slag. 
Some of the tests used in this investigation, have been formally 
adopted and issued as standard by the American Society for Testing 
Materials, upon the recommendation of Committee D-4. It should 
be noted, that no detailed information, within the writer’s knowledge, 
was given at the time of publishing these test results as to the origi¬ 
nal chemical composition or method of commercial preparation of 
the slag reported on, though from the number of samples tested it 
is to be assumed they probably came from widely different sections 
of the country. While blast furnace slag in the same district, arising 
from the use of practically the same raw materials in the process 
whence it is derived should be comparatively uniform chemically 
and physically, there will be considerable variation found if com¬ 
parison be instituted between this product, from different manu¬ 
facturing districts and there certainly must be greater differences 
between slags even from the same district, prepared differently for 
commercial purposes. So that it must be understood that when 
blast furnace slag is herein referred to, material of limited chemical 
composition and properly handled in its storage and preparation for 
market is intended whether its use be for macadam, waterbound or 
bituminous bound, or concrete construction. The government test 
results above referred to, have been in a more recent publication 
noted as having been brought down to 1912. These reveal com¬ 
paratively more or less fully the physical characteristics of the differ¬ 
ent materials examined, covering percentage of loss through abrasion, 
degree of hardness and toughness, tendency to absorb water, com¬ 
pressive or tensile strength, specific gravity and cementing value. 
Upon an arbitrary scale all results are measured so that within 
certain maximum and minimum limits, the materials are graded as 
low or soft, medium or fair, good or hard. It must be realized that 
a high rating in one characteristic, while theoretically tending to 
recommend the material, might practically materially impair its 
average value if radically influencing any other characteristics. One 
material might be so hard and tough as to show such slight loss 
in abrasion with consequent low cementing value, that its use in 
actual service would necessitate the addition of some extraneous 
binder. This of course would apply more particularly in the con¬ 
sideration of materials for waterbound macadam construction and 
not be of such moment in bituminous bound or surface treated 
construction. But it will be recognized that the best material for 
general roadway purposes, unless special conditions are to be met, 
is that, wherein is combined in as high a degree as possible as many 
of the desirable physical characteristics of the ideal material, well 
balanced. As the theoretically ideal roadway is of monolithic con- 


190 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


struction, the distinction previously drawn, showing the importance 
of good cementing value in any material, however otherwise desir¬ 
able, will be recognized as an important one. It is this property of 
one of the components of concrete, that gives great value to this 
material for roadway purposes. 

Examination of the test records show that some slag—and mark 
the author’s insistence on quality which can be guaranteed—meets 
all the test requirements with a particularly high cementing value. 
This was to have been anticipated since this material closely approxi¬ 
mates in chemical composition as it does on a small scale, in mode 
of production, natural puzzolanic material, whose cementitious value 
has been utilized for thousands of years. The necessary degree of 
hardness of any material proposed for structural use must not be 
sacrificed merely on account of good cementing value, but that blast 
furnace slag is sufficiently hard to comply with roadway specifica¬ 
tion requirements, has been developed to the writer’s complete satis¬ 
faction by a series of tests on concrete specimens, where comparison 
was instituted between broken stone, trap and limestone and slag 
used severally as coarse aggregate with identical cement and fine 
aggregate. These tests, showing average results for each period 
from 28 days at 3 month intervals up to 1 year, embodied probably 
the greatest number'of individual specimens ever similarly investi¬ 
gated. These were submitted last June to the convention of the 
American Society for Testing Materials at Atlantic City. The speci¬ 
mens were 6-inch cubes of 1-2-4 concrete and the strength values 
obtained from the slag concrete at all periods, compared perfectly 
with the average values in the author’s experience of similarly pro¬ 
portioned concrete irrespective of difference in character of the 
coarse aggregate. The marked porous, sponge like structure of the 
slag, characteristic of the output from modern furnaces and quite 
different from the old style glassy, hard, brittle material, aided 
greatly to produce a monolithic character in the concrete. The 
specimens upon crushing presented a markedly different appear¬ 
ance to those where the coarse aggregate was broken stone and this 
is equally noticeable where sections of macadam work are examined 
for fracture appearance: different materials showing very differently, 
that from slag on account of its porous structure and high cementing 
value, showing a much more monolithic type than the general run 
of materials. 

These tests all emphasize the cementitious value of the material 
as a specially important factor in determining its possible selection 
over other materials. There are some practical advantages in the 
use of slag which are not developed by the above laboratory tests— 
which do appear when the material is put to a practical use in road 
building. Through sections of the country where natural drainage 
is poor, this very adverse circumstance tends to accentuate the 
value of the slag as base material. This must not be interpreted 
of course, to imply that where practicable, proper drainage is not 


DISCUSSION 


191 


to be provided for but only to show that slag shows to advantage 
where other materials would naturally fail under similar use. Again, 
with most road materials used in the base, the necessity often exists 
for bringing in special top dressing. It is the experience of every¬ 
one who has used blast furnace slag for roadway construction, that 
the ordinary side ditch material furnishes, in combination with the 
slag base, a finish that, in a very short time is surprisingly satis¬ 
factory, one which withstands traffic in a manner entirely its own 
and with use of such side ditch material on ordinary base material, 
the function of the ditch material simply being to hold the slag in 
place until the monolithic character of the road is fully developed. 

Experience, the “test of time” has generally corroborated pre¬ 
liminary conclusions based on mechanical tests furnishing relative 
values of different materials. A number of years ago, in the infancy 
of the awakening thought for better roads, it was authoritatively 
stated that nearly one-half of this country was very illy provided 
with materials suitable for roadway construction. Much of the 
extreme South was undoubtedly referred to in this statement and 
the appreciation of slag as better material than much locally found, 
is shown by its widely growing use in the Gulf States. Natural 
puzzolanic material, wherever available, was used by the Romans, 
the greatest road builders in the world and the most highly techni¬ 
cally educated nations of modern Europe have long recognized the 
value of that other similar material, slag. In this country, except 
by management of the large iron and steel industries and by com¬ 
munities adjacent to their plants, little thought, except sporadically, 
has been given, until comparatively recent, to conservation, through 
the utilization of the millions of tons of this waste material suitable 
for roadway construction. Continued and increasing recognition of 
the material’s worth is sure to follow each new successful experience 
in its application. 

Mr. Blair: Mr. Chairman, I am not going to detain you but a 
moment and I may surprise you by what I am going to say, in view 
of what the Honorable Chairman has suggested that I might possibly 
say. I was particularly refreshed by the statements made by the 
Mayor of Lawrence, Massachusetts, in all he did say and I believe 
that the lesson suggested by what he said, was one of the most valu¬ 
able given to this convention. I am unacquainted with the writer 
of that paper, I know but little about the pavements of Lawrence, 
Massachusetts, made of granite, but I do subscribe to what he says 
based upon his description of the manner and method m which 
his pavements are" built, and therein to me lies the most valuable 
suggestion in all of the papers that have been read and the greatest 
lesson to be drawn from them. It is the manner and method oi 
building a pavement rather than the type from which you get the 
greatest efficiency. We have heard a great deal of suggestions^for 
maintenance; we have said to build the roads and maintain them 


192 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


and maintain them and maintain them, but here we have a witness 
coming before us who says the pavements that he builds do not 
require repairs, and he says it is a hard thing to believe, so that 
his suggestion comes with a little doubt in his own mind as 
whether he ought to make the suggestion. Now I want to emphasize 
and support what he has said by one little statement in reference 
to a particular experience. In 1901 in the city of Cleveland, Ohio, 
a medina block pavement was laid, as he describes, around the south¬ 
west corner of the square. It has borne as heavy traffic as that 
city affords upon any of its streets, and every hour and every minute 
since that time it has grown better without one single cent for main¬ 
tenance, and it will continue, in my judgment, to grow better for 
years to come. Now then, out of the same material precisely on 
another and an adjoining street, with traffic not so heavy, a pave¬ 
ment has been built, which is a miserable dirty, filthy, unsanitary 
pavement, not fit to live upon or walk upon or use, and it has been 
so since it was built. I have sometimes heard it said that in com¬ 
pelling a team to draw a load over that pavement the team is com¬ 
pelled to lift the load one-fourth that distance at an angle of 45 
degrees. It is the manner and methods in which the pavements 
are built, and we must not hide behind the fact, we engineers of the 
county, that the construction is badly supervised, that we have 
inefficient inspectors. It is upon us to assert ourselves and see that 
the roads are built exactly in accordance with the specifications and 
built at their best. I am sometimes heard to say, and I am only 
going to speak a word with reference to brick pavements, that the 
brick pavements of this country ought to be built and are built, 
so that they will grow better for years to come instead of depre¬ 
ciating from the hour that they are built, and it is so and I am 
glad to be supported by this paper. I am glad that this paper has 
been read. I myself have built like pavements 30 years ago. The 
time will come, although it may come slow, when we will under¬ 
stand that we can build hard pavements out of stone and granite 
and brick that are the most sanitary in the world. 

The Chairman: There is an old saying and a true one that the 
common people heard the Lord gladly; He talked to them in their 
own way and from the point of view that they would understand. 
We have gone after the country road and the intertown road into 
the cities where these strong, able pavements are a matter of course. 
The curse of the cities of our country has been that the choice of 
the pavement has been left to the selection of abutting owners and 
not as we have them today, under the supervision of our highway 
commissioners. An illustration of how people’s minds change is 
best shown in a pavement that was laid in New York City in 1874. 
One of those pavements was called the Gada pavement, a granite 
pavement, and it remained there until 1894, and I presume that 
that pavement had about as much traffic as the Appian Way had 


MAINTENANCE OF EARTH ROADS 


193 


from the day it was laid till the present time, and yet it was cov¬ 
ered over afterwards, because it was noiseless, by an asphalt. 

We now come down to the people’s highway, the roads the farmers 
built in this country, 2,200,000 miles of road, and they built them 
themselves without any assistance. Now there’s a whole lot of 
people who want to know what we are going to do with this great 
question of over 2,200,000 miles of earth roads that are still not 
under anybody’s care and have not been improved. Only 10 per 
cent of the roads of this country are improved, and I am glad my 
friend Cooley is to talk to you this afternoon on this great question. 
I take great pleasure in introducing Mr. Cooley. 

MAINTENANCE OF EARTH ROADS 

By George W. Cooley 
State Highway Engineer of Minnesota 

I beg permission of the Program Committee and the delegates 
present, to change the title of my paper from “Maintenance Methods 
and Relations to Traffic” to “The Maintenance of Earth Roads.” 
This change is made for various reasons: 

First, we all know, either through our own experience or from the 
experience of other investigators, that the economic value of a high¬ 
way depends to a great extent on its surfacing, and the care with 
which that surfacing is kept up. The nature of the material used 
for surfacing, its value as to hardness, toughness and its recementing 
quality is generally determined from the conditions of each individual 
case, but one factor remains forever the same, one rule must be con¬ 
tinually in force, and that is a continuous and thorough system of 
repairs and maintenance. Without the careful carrying out of 
such a rule, the best of roads will deteriorate, the cost of transpor¬ 
tation will become greater with each day’s neglect, and our road will 
become a liability instead of an asset. By far the greater proportion 
of our roads, especially those in States having a large mileage and a 
moderate road fund, are the common ordinary earth roads either 
built entirely from the material at hand or covered when permissible, 
with a surfacing of gravel, sand, stone or clay, as necessities warrant, 
or conditions permit. 

In the consideration of this subject, it is presumed that the funda¬ 
mental principles of road construction have been followed, i.e., that 
an ample drainage system has been provided, and that the sub¬ 
grade or foundation has been built up without the use of perishable 
material. Unless our road has been so primarily constructed, weak 
spots will develop when the drainage is imperfect or where sods or 
vegetable matter has been used in its construction, and the cost of 
proper maintenance will become excessive. 

In the construction of a new earth road made in an open level or 
rolling country, the use of an elevating grader is quite common and 


194 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


under suitable conditions its use is justified by economy in con¬ 
struction work, but its value as a road builder is lessened if the two 
frequent result is obtained of casting the sods into the road bed, 
and depending on the regular traffic to thoroughly consolidate the 
mass so built up. This can be avoided by the use of a tractor in 
hauling the grader, which thoroughly pulverizes and packs the 
material cast in by the grader. 

We may safely take it for granted then that in any road bed 
carelessly constructed with a large percentage of vegetable matter, 
the future bills for repairs and maintenance will be governed largely 
by the quantity of unsuitable construction material used, and in 
case of a lax system of construction, a more elaborate system of 
maintenance must be adopted. 

I quote the following from Mr. L. W. Page, director of the office of 
public roads: 

Overtopping all other road problems in its importance is that of mainte¬ 
nance. The destructive agencies of traffic and the elements are unceasing in 
their activities, and it is idle to talk of permanent roads any more than to 
speak of a house, a fence or railroad ties as permanent. The public roads to¬ 
day, by reason of the exceptionally obstructive traffic conditions, are more 
costly in construction and this cost is continually increasing with the ad¬ 
vance in the prices of labor and material. It is criminally wasteful, therefor; 
to invest large sums of public money in building the highways demanded by 
traffic, unless the investment is conserved by adequate maintenance. 

We conclude, therefore, that continuous maintenance being such 
an important factor in the general scheme, especial effort must be 
made to install a satisfactory and economical system as soon as a 
road is opened to travel. In some of our western States, the plan 
has been suggested of requiring contractors on surfaced roads to 
provide for maintenance as soon as any section is completed, and 
continue the same for at least thirty days after the work is ac¬ 
cepted, thus giving time for the engineering department to provide 
for the organization of a maintenance crew without overlapping 
or interfering with the work of construction: and in Minnesota the 
plan has been adopted in the construction of earth roads to require 
the continual use of a drag or planer on grade building. This latter 
plan has been found very efficient and renders future work on the 
surface less expensive, besides tending to produce a more compact 
road bed. The tool found most satisfactory in this work is that 
known as the “Minnesota Road Planer” which consists of the two 
blades of an ordinary road drag, fixed between a pair of runners about 
14 feet long, the blades set at an angle of about sixty degrees to the 
runner and made rigid or adjustable as may be deemed best. The 
planer is hauled on a line parallel with the axis of the road and its 
operation is similar to that of the ordinary drag, with the additional 
advantage of making a smoother surface. The old style drag with¬ 
out runners has a tendency, especially on new work, to increase the 
“waves” or undulations frequently occurring on road construction, 
while the planer eliminates these faults, and as a general mainte¬ 
nance tool has proven the most satisfactory. 


MAINTENANCE OF EARTH ROADS 


195 


An important feature of maintenance is prevention of the growth 
of sod and weeds along the travelled track. When sod is allowed to 
form along the highway, it has a tendency to catch the dust and wash 
from the road surface, and soon becomes a high tough shoulder, 
preventing drainage. The use of a spring tooth harrow along the 
roadside two or three times a year will prevent this growth. 

The State of Minnesota has given special attention to the matter 
of maintenance and in the present road laws have made adequate 
provision for the care of all roads. Township and county roads 
constitute approximately 90 per cent of the road mileage of the 
State, and of these roads, about 90 per cent are earth roads. To 
care for the town and county roads, a one mill tax is levied on all 
property in the town the proceeds of which constitutes the town 
dragging fund. This fund is expended under the direction of an 
overseer, appointed by the town board, for the purchase of drags, 
and in dragging all roads of the town, excepting State roads. This 
appears to be the most satisfactory method of caring for the earth 
roads under control of the local authorities, but there should be a 
provision in such cases, for general supervision of the work by the 
county highway engineer. 

For the care of State roads in Minnesota, 20 per cent of the 
State road funds, with a due proportion of county funds, are set 
aside and may not be used for any other purpose than maintenance 
of State roads. As the State roads include all types of construction, 
different systems of maintenance have been required in the different 
localities. In general, three systems have been established: The 
patrol system on macadam and well built gravel roads, and the 
maintenance section system, and road drag system on other roads, all 
being under the direct supervision of the district highway engineer. 

Under the patrol system, one man is assigned a section of from 
5 to 7 miles of road and works with hand tools. It has been found 
necessary to supplement this work with the occasional use of a team 
and in that manner it has proven satisfactory on macadam and 
gravel roads. 

Under the maintenance section system, one man is given charge 
of a section of from 20 to 30 miles of road and is employed continu¬ 
ously with his team on the care of his section. He is given authority 
to employ additional help, both teams and men, and usually has 
two teams and four or five men at work. Contracts are also entered 
into by the section foreman with residents along the road, for the 
dragging of same after each rain, or when ordered to do so by him. 
The section crew takes care of all minor items of construction, such 
as placing culverts, etc., and we have found that the work when 
properly done, is really of a constructive nature. This system is 
without doubt the most effective, and is being adopted generally 
throughout the State. 

The dragging system requires the employment of a superintendent 
of maintenance, who for convenience should be one of the engineer’s 
assistants, whose duty is to contract or make arrangements for the 


196 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


dragging of all roads under his charge, and to see that the work is 
done at proper times. This system is suitable for slightly undulating 
prairie country, where most of the roads are of earth, and to get 
best results, the superintendent should have at his disposal light 
graders to reshape the road bed at least at the beginning of each 
season. 

On earth or gravel roads, no maintenance system is complete which 
does not contemplate the use of planers or similar devices, and 
a combination of work as outlined under the section system is 
recommended. 

I have been asked to state something about our plan of raising 
funds. We have a law by which we levy a tax of one mill on the 
total assessible property of the State. That gives us $1,500,000 
every year, which we distribute in such a way that no county shall 
receive less than 1 or more than 3 per cent. That money is allotted 
to the counties in the office of the State engineer under a plan whereby 
the county having a valuation of $5,000,000 pays 20 per cent and 
the State 80 per cent; a county having between $5,000,000 and 
$10,000,000 pays 30 per cent and the State 70 per cent; a county 
having a valuation between $10,000,000 and $15,000,000 pays 40 
per cent and the State 60 per cent, and in all other counties, the State 
pays half and the county pays half. We have a district engineer 
in every county in the State who has a supervisory control of all 
work done in the county. Before payment is made on any work, 
it must be approved by the district engineer. 

The Chairman: Mr. Diehl of the Committee on Resolutions 
desires to make an announcement. 

Mr. Diehl: I would like to say, gentlemen, that the Committee 
on Resolutions met this morning and afternoon and will hold another 
meeting this evening. They desire to present their report at to¬ 
morrow’s session and therefore request all delegates who so desire 
to present their resolutions in order that they may be considered 
at the Committee meeting this evening. 

The Chairman: The discussion of the “Earth Roads” will be 
continued by Mr. H. R. Carter, who is the State Highway Engineer 
of Arkansas. That State has made a recent appropriation of 
$1,250,000 which has been placed in his charge. The State has 
some 36,000 miles of roads and they have improved about 1000 
miles as I understand it, sand-clay roads. We will be very glad to 
hear from Mr. Carter in regard to this great question. 

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen: Unfortunately, I did not arrive as 
early as I should have and as a result I have been unable to secure 
a copy of Mr. Cooley’s paper, however, if I had secured it I am sure 
I could not have found many more points to discuss because he has 
covered his subject thoroughly. 


DISCUSSION 


197 


In Arkansas our problem is now and will be for some time in the 
future, a problem of the construction and maintenance of earth roads. 
I might say though, as the chairman has told you, that we now have 
approximately 1000 miles of improved roads, I mean by improved 
roads, gravel, water bound macadam, tarvia, bituminous macadam, 
and concrete roads. I merely mention these facts in order that 
you may become more conversant with conditions that exist in our 
State. We built the best possible roads with the money available. 

The speaker does not desire in any way to criticise Mr. Cooley’s 
paper, but there is one point, although a small one, that I would 
like to discuss for a short time, that is, the use of the road drag. 
Mr. Cooley mentions in his paper that in Minnesota a road planer 
is used which replaces the old road drag, his reasons being that the 
planer eliminates waves. In other words, the Minnesota planer is 
used for a cutting tool as well as for a drag. I do not think exces¬ 
sive waves will form if the road is properly constructed, I mean 
by this that if weeds or other perishable matter is eliminated, drain¬ 
age properly cared for and the road thoroughly dragged as often 
as is necessary. 

Mr. King the father of the split log drag has said that his drag 
is based on the principle that the top surface puddles in successive 
layers and that the action of the sun as result of this puddling pro¬ 
duces a baked surface or a sort of a sun-brick, which sheds the sur¬ 
face water. The strength of this crust increases in proportion to 
the use of the drag. If these are facts the use of a planer or a cutting 
tool, it occurs to me, would destroy just the results we desire, i.e., 
the sun-baked surface. I wish to here state that we have never 
used the Minnesota planer in Arkansas and it is for this reason I 
have raised this point hoping that it will be discussed by others 
present. 

In conclusion, I desire to congratulate Mr. Cooley on his paper 
and hope we will meet again. 

Mr. Cooley: Referring to the use of the split log drag, I am 
willing to concede that the split log drag will do almost everything, 
but I know this, that nearly all of our country roads are soft, con¬ 
structed of soft material. Now you cannot throw Up a country 
road of the material we have in the western country and find it 
uniformly homogeneous all the way through, there’s bound to be 
some places softer than others, and those are the places that make 
chuck holes to a certain extent. Of course if a road is properly 
constructed, it might not do so, but under ordinary conditions there 
will be chuck holes every once in a while. If you put an ordinary 
split log drag on that road you will find that the ends of the drag 
will dip down in some of those holes and won’t be as effective as if 
the drag is encased in a frame about 14 feet long, because it will 
shave off the highest point and deposit the material in the lowest. 
I have been using those drags for 14 years and the best ones I found 


198 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


were made of 2 x 4. I find that the planer was quite satisfactory in 
every respect and I would be glad to demonstrate it by the picture 
of the machine which will convince anybody of its merit. It is 
really a very satisfactory machine. There is no patent on it. 

Mr. Blair : Please tell us how you drain the roads in Minnesota? 

Mr. Cooley: It is all surface drainage except that in some of 
our roads we have put in catch basins on the side, the same as here, 
and the water is carried across the road instead of over, but nearly 
all our drainage is surface drainage. We make our roads about 
30 feet wide, 30 feet from the foot of one slope to the foot of the 
opposite slope, with a wearing surface of about 14, 18 or 20 feet 
and two ditches about 5 feet wide. 

Mr. Burgess (of Illinois): In defence of Mr. Cooley’s paper, 
I have got one to stick into the road drag. Up in our country— 
I live in central Illinois, and I might as well say that I am a farmer, 
a stock man; as I said at one of our State meetings, I live in the 
country 4 miles when the roads are good and 20 miles when they 
are bad. I started into the road business because our commissioner 
had turned down a mile of macadam road at no expense to the com¬ 
munity and the people thrust the job on me. We spend $5000 for 
road work in our township, 6 by 8 miles square, every year, and the 
roads were no better than they were 20 years before. I bought a 
gas tractor, used some horse graders we had on hand and wore out 
an old leveler made right in the neighborhood, and finally bought 
a heavier machine. I put up my grades so we had a good crown, 
good gutters on each side that carried the water to lateral ditches. 
Our county is underlaid with big dredge ditches and smaller laterals 
to them, so the only drainage we need is surface drainage. I made 
an average crown of 2 feet to the gutter, so that water, when it 
falls runs' off into the gutters and is carried to the ditches. We 
leave the ditches open. There is a good deal of tile, but because 
of our black mud the ditches become puddled and the water must 
be carried off by surface drainage. With tile you have to dig catch 
basins to let the water down, but it is not necessary with us when 
we get our roads up, the water runs down to the gutters. In our 
part of the country the drag is a complete failure. Mr. Johnson 
our State Engineer for several years—came there and put up some 
improved roads, in fact he put me on to how to build these roads. 
After we got them up he said, “Now I want you to drag them; 
drag them,” and fixed me up three different kinds of drags. The 
drag was a failure, because we never could get them wet enough 
and they would roll up under the drag. We could go out and drag 
in a rain but it would still roll up. There are two periods we can 
drag, when they are frozen and will thaw down an inch or so and 
just before freezing it will do all right. Instead of using that sort 


DISCUSSION 


199 


of drag, we have a machine that we call a Monroe leveler. I have 
no connection with the Monroe people; Monroe is a farmer and this 
machine is built with I-beams and carried on four wheels. The 
I-beams are about 30 feet long and are fitted with cutting edges. 
After you put the grade up once, they will go clear to the gutters 
and bring in the dirt gradually. Then we use what we call a pul¬ 
verizer behind that. That spreads the dirt instead of leaving it in 
a potato ridge, as we call it. Everybody has this machine and we 
use a heavy block behind this that spreads it out, grinds up all the 
little clods and leaves the top pleasant to travel on. I have found 
that the important thing in building a road is to fix the top, the 
center, so that the traffic will stay on it when it is muddy. Our 
grades are brought up with a good slope so that you cannot travel 
the sides when it is muddy. Mr. Johnson said, “ After you have a 
good heavy rain, 'phone me and I will come up and show you how 
to do this;” when I ’phoned he came up and said, “I have heard 
there was soil you couldn’t drag and you have it.” This Monroe 
leveler is the only thing we can use; with it we can cut off the little 
knobs and level it down and work it just as quick as we can get an 
engine over it. We work the roads every day they are fit to work, 
and if you come through our township, no matter which way you 
go though it, you know it is Bement Township by the roads. We 
have the best roads in the state; we maintain them every day, and 
if you don’t do that, you can’t have a good dirt road. 

The Chairman: I am glad the last speaker brought that up. 
I always felt that we never devoted enough time to the question 
of earth roads. The commissioners that come from the East and 
New England where this great movement started, with them it is 
a question of refinement in road building—here this great country 
is lying in the mud. We ought to have more time for drainage and 
more time for earth roads. I am very glad to know that we have 
with us today one of the pioneers in road building. We have all 
gone to Massachusetts, the dear old State, when we want to learn 
something. They always receive us pleasantly and give us all the 
information at their disposal. I know of no State in the Union that 
has assisted more in the development of road improvement than 
Massachusetts. We have with us today Colonel William D. Sohier, 
Chairman of the Massachusetts Highway Commission, who will 
tell us how to take care of these great highways and what they 
have done with surfacing. 


200 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


ROAD MAINTENANCE 

THE MAINTENANCE OF SURFACED ROADS OUTSIDE OF CITY PAVED 
STREETS AND NOT INCLUDING CITY PAVEMENTS 

By Col. Wm. D. Sohier 
Chairman Massachusetts Highway Commission 

The absolutely essential prerequisite to a good road is proper 
drainage. If the road has not proper ditches and proper drains to 
carry the water away from the road at all times, it will soon become 
either a bog or a ditch. The second absolutely necessary condition 
is drainage. If the road has not the proper foundation properly 
drained to carry off the water into the ditch or drain the water 
away from the road, the road will soon become worn out, rutted, 
and a bog-hole. The third absolute necessity is drainage. If the 
road does not have a surface properly constructed and at all times 
proper maintenance so that it will carry the water off of the road 
surface at all times, holes will soon develop and then ruts, and the 
road will be rapidly disintegrated and worn out. 

And that brings me to the absolute necessity of constant mainte¬ 
nance at all times in order that the road surface may at all times 
carry off the water and contain no holes or ruts which can hold water. 

If the road is to be properly maintained, it must in the first in¬ 
stance be properly constructed. 

The materials and methods used must be adequate to withstand 
the traffic that goes over the road without serious deterioration in 
a few months or even a year or two. This means that the road 
surface as much as the bridge and the road foundation as much as 
the bridge foundation must be able to stand without being destroyed 
the heaviest moving load that is going over it. 

I am giving a number of tables showing the cost of maintenance 
in France and England and Massachusetts, with some tables on 
traffic that will illustrate this point. We can well learn something 
from the experience of other countries where road building has been 
a science for nearly 70 years in France and for the last 25 or 30 years 
in England. 


MAINTENANCE OF FRENCH ROADS 

They established their French road system beginning in 1826, and 
constructed their total road system of 371,000 miles in about the 
next 25 years. 

Their roads, practically uniform except as to width, have been 
built almost entirely of local macadam .originally, 6 or 8 inches 
deep on a proper foundation. In resurfacing some of the main 
roads in later years they have used a harder stone and Welsh or 
Belgium granite. The macadam surface of the road on the Routes 
Nationales is 24 feet; Routes Departmentales, 18 feet, and the roads 


ROAD MAINTENANCE 


201 


de grande communication and d’interest commun, 15 feet. The 
yearly cost of maintenance has been $273 a mile on the Routes 
Nationales, this maintenance cost varying to $78 a mile on the 
184,000 miles of ordinary country road of only local interest. 

The French engineers last spring estimated that some 8000 miles 
of road ought to be resurfaced, using a tar macadam, because of the 
large increase in automobile travel around the cities, which travel 
was rapidly destroying their macadam roads, and they requested the 
government to furnish $60,000,000 for that purpose, about $7500 
a mile. 

Their greatest problem for over 50 years has been maintenance. 
The roads are maintained practically by a central organization. 
The whole country is divided into 86 departments, and all of the 
county and rural roads within the department are managed by 
the prefect of that department, and the expenditures appropriated 
by the council. 

Direct charge is in the hands of a centralized body of competent 
engineers, about half of whom are graduates of the National School. 

Each department is divided into four or five political districts, 
each district being called an arrondissement, and the roads are in 
charge of a district engineer, who is under the direction of the chief 
engineer. 

Each arrondissement is again divided into districts or cantons, 
and an assistant road engineer under the direction of the district 
road engineer looks after all the county and rural roads within the 
canton. 

Then comes the final subdivision, where the roads are divided into 
sections of a few miles long, taken care of by patrolmen. All of these 
are under civil service and the men are promoted from time to time 
according to their ability. 

The table shown below gives the approximate cost of maintenance 


on the French roads, annually: 

Miles 

Total 

Expense 

Per 

Mile 

Routes Nationales. 

. 23,800 

$6,500,000 

$273 

Routes Departmental. 

Chemins Vicinaux 

. 8,1001 

1,500,000 

115,400 

185 

De grande communication. 

. 107,300 

16,900,000 

157 

d’interest commun. 

. 47,500 

6,000,000 

126 

ordinaires. 

.184,700 

14,500,000 

78 


Five or six patrolmen are under a foreman who is also a patrol¬ 
man. When any resurfacing or reconstruction is to be done they 
use machinery, rollers, etc., belonging to the department and col¬ 
lect together enough of the patrolmen, with a section foreman, to 
reconstruct the road under the supervision of the district engineer. 
This provides them with men who are thoroughly familiar with the 
work. 

You will note that the French engineers state that on the main 
roads near the cities the $273 a mile a year for maintenance is not 








202 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


keeping the roads up; that they need $60,000,000 to resurface with 
tar macadam 3000 miles of these roads at a cost of about $7500 a 
mile; that is, practically one-third of their main roads should be of 
tar macadam. If this expenditure is made in say a five-year period, 
or $12,000,000 a year, it will increase the cost of maintenance on their 
23,800 miles of national roads about $500 a mile a year for resur¬ 
facing on the average, and will make their total maintenance charge 
on their main roads $770 a mile in place of the present cost of $273 
a mile. Of course, if spread over a ten-year period it would only 
increase the cost half as much, the present roads would be practically 
impassable. This is in accordance with our Massachusetts experi¬ 
ence on our State highways where our expenses per mile including 
resurfacing averaged over $850 in 1913. 

MAINTENANCE OF ENGLISH ROADS 

Originally there was no road system in England. Everyone made 
his own road. Then came “statue labor” which was required by 
a general act passed in 1555. This practice was not superseded by 
Highway Rates until 1835. The roads were cared for by the parishes, 
and a little later several parishes were combined in a highway district. 

In 1663 England began to pass “Turnpike Acts,” authorizing the 
creation of a corporation with trustees, who were to build roads, 
maintain toll gates and charge tolls. 

By 1833 Parliament had passed 3800 Turnpike Acts, and created 
in England and Wales 1116 Turnpike trusts, controlling 22,000 miles 
of road. They almost all failed and in the 22 years after 1864 the 
number of Turnpike trusts was reduced from 1048 controlling 20,589 
miles of road to 20 trusts with 700 miles of road. 

In 1878 the cost of these main roads which had been disturnpiked 
was placed upon the counties. In order to even up the expense 
more or less the English government made appropriations to aid in 
the maintenance of these main roads, beginning in 1882 with an 
appropriation of about $800,000. In 1888 about $2,500,000 was 
appropriated, and now the Road Board has something over $6,000,- 
000 annually which can be spent in improving the main roads. 

They have now a combination of the county taking care of the 
urban and rural main roads, with the parish and local authorities 
taking care of the rural roads. The main roads are something over 
20 per cent of all the mileage, leaving out London. 

In almost all of the counties they have sections of road in charge 
of regular maintenance men. They have almost universally been 
obliged to give up the old system of patching the roads by putting in 
loose broken stone from the roadside because of the large number 
of automobiles that threw it out so rapidly, and they have substi¬ 
tuted patches made of either tarred stone or tarred slag, or the 
patches are made by a painting method using stone chips and dust. 

Most of the main roads in England outside of Metropolitan London 


ROAD MAINTENANCE 


203 


and the other large cities, are maintained by the use of tar. Some 
40,000 miles of road were tarred in England last year, and some 
6500 miles were built of tarred macadam. Their system of main¬ 
tenance now is not only to keep the roads constantly patched, but 
every year or twice a year on their macadam roads they usually flush 
them and roll them filling the holes and depressions first and adding 
a small quantity of chips and stone dust. On the tarred roads a 
section man keeps them constantly patched. They usually require 
a fifth or a sixth of a gallon of tar per square yard which is sprayed 
on once a year, and this is covered with pea stone or gravel and 
kept covered so it won’t pick up. The tar is usually sprayed on 
under pressure. 

Where they have heavy traffic they are resurfacing their roads 
with tarred Welsh granite which is like our Trap Rock or with 
tarmac which is a tarred iron slag. They also build a road of three- 
inch stone, rolled hard, and grout it with a mixture of hot sand and 
hot tar, equal volume, poured into the road until it flushes it, and 
roll in lj-inch stone and smaller stone with a surface coat of tar and 
sand. They find their macadam roads with a tarred surface require 
re-treatment every year. This costs about 2\ to 3 cents a square 
yard a year. On the tar-mix roads they require a new coat of a 
fifth of a gallon of tar applied on the surface every two years. 

I am giving you in a table the cost of maintenance on the various 
classes of road in England, in which you will see that the average 
cost is $1100 a mile a year to maintain the county urban main roads, 
and the county rural roads $431 a mile a year, while the rural roads 
which are merely of local interest cost about $122 a mile a year to 
maintain. 



MILES 

MAINTENANCE 

AUTHORITIES, 

COUNTY 

ENGINEERS 

YEARLY 
MAINTENANCE 
PER MILE 

County Councils: 





Urban Main Roads. 

4,189 

$4,601,790 

61 

$1100 

Rural Main Roads. 

23,565 

10,177,740 


431 


27,754 

14,779,530 



County Boroughs. 

9,366 

6,437,380 

28 

685 

London Authorities. 

2,192 

3,691,355 

2 

1680 


11,558 

10,128,735 

30 





Road 





Authorities 


Urban Roads. 

11,411 

4,848,020 

1733 

425 

Urban Roads. 

4,871 

2,701,710 


555 

Rural Roads. 

95,077 

11,562,920 


122 


111,359 

19,112,650 



Totals. 

150,671 

$44,020,915 

1898 

290 


The total expenditures per year, including improvements and interest, $75,990,000. 





















204 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


CONSTANT MAINTENANCE 

In both France and England they keep the roads constantly 
patched. But in France near the large cities where there is a large 
amount of automobile travel, they have been unable to keep their 
water-bound macadam roads in good condition. Many of them are 
rough with a large number of pot-holes. Around Paris they have 
replaced the water-bound macadam with a tar macadam top 3 
inches in depth on many of the roads that were undoubtedly worn 
out and rough and impassable five years ago. 

In both countries on the main roads they keep section men con¬ 
stantly patching the roads. They add a little additional stone, 
flush them out and roll them every year. On the main roads where 
there is much automobile travel they are using tar in making their 
patches, as they found that the old method of putting on loose broken 
stone and letting the traffic roll it dow~n is of no use because the 
automobiles throw the stones out over the road. 

They are patching by two methods, more commonly using a tarred 
stone or tarred slag with tarred chips, cutting a square edge if there 
is a pot-hole and tamping the tarred material in. The largest stone 
used are at least three-quarters of the depth of the hole. In other 
places they are merely painting the little place where the tar fails 
and covering with pea stone or pea gravel. 

In resurfacing in both countries they are using a large stone about 
the 3-inch size. In France where there is not a great deal of 
tarred macadam they are using a hard Belgium granite on the main 
roads, doing one-half the width at once. 

In England they are using the same large size stone coated with 
tar or a tarmac (tar-coated iron slag). Most of their engineers use 
very little small stone with it. They use practically all large size 
with tarmac as it compacts under the roller. Some of the county 
engineers use 10 per cent of the fine material. They also do one-half 
the road at once. The engineers state that they have been forced 
to use this larger stone in resurfacing because of the motor trucks and 
the large number of traction engines with trailers. Our practice in 
Massachusetts is the same, except that we are very often on heavy 
traffic roads using asphalt or some asphaltic bitumen rather than 
tar because our experience leads us to believe that it is worth the 
additional cost for the material. 

We are also in Massachusetts—somewhat experimentally as yet 
as we have only done three or four miles—resurfacing with the tar 
and sand mixture grouted into the three-inch stone described above. 

In England, France, and Massachusetts we have found it neces¬ 
sary and economical with the change and increase in traffic to very 
much diminish the crown of our macadam roads. 

Formerly with macadam surfaces 15 feet in width we used a crown 
of three-quarters of an inch to the foot. We now try to secure about 
a quarter of an inch to the foot on our bituminous macadam roads, 
and in resurfacing the old roads we are widening the macadam sur- 


ROAD MAINTENANCE 


205 


face to 18 feet in place of 15, as our experience shows that traffic 
otherwise will spread over the edge of the road and rapidly sheer 
down into the macadam and narrow the road up. 

In England they have been forced to do the same; to wit, widen 
the road and diminish the crown, because they found that the trac¬ 
tion engine with trailers, of which they use large numbers, would 
shear down into the macadam, thus rapidly destroying their older 
roads. They now universally use a crown that does not exceed one 
inch to the yard. 

The result of this in England and Massachusetts has been that 
the traffic has spread all over the road, that no rut has developed 
and no horse track, a tremendous change from a few years ago when 
the center of the road as a horse track wore down quicker than the 
sides. 

In traveling over 2,000 miles of road in England this year and last, 
I didn’t see a single rut and practically not a single pot-hole. 

MAINTENANCE OF STATE HIGHWAYS IN MASSACHUSETTS 

Our Commission began building roads in 1894. The earlier roads 
were almost entirely macadam with a few miles of gravel or graded 
road. The standard road with necessary foundation and proper 
drainage wherever necessary was 15 feet in width, water-bound 
macadam either of trap or local stone, 6 inches deep in the center 
and 4 inches on the sides, with a 3-foot gravel shoulder on each 
side and with a three-quarter-inch crown to the foot. 

The ordinary cost of maintenance I am giving in a table, but up 
to 1907 when some of the roads were 12 years old, the cost of ordinary 
maintenance was substantially 8100 a mile a year. Ordinary main¬ 
tenance with us consisted merely of keeping the gutters, catch basins, 
and drainage, open and clean, cutting out the grass and brush on the 
roadsides, keeping the shoulders in proper condition, spreading a 
little gravel or sand on the road surface from time to time and filling 
the few holes or ruts that might occur, with broken stone or gravel. 
Very few miles of road had been actually resurfaced prior to 1907. 

In 1906 the automobiles began to come. Our roads were some 
of them 13 years old and only half the original depth of stone was 
left. We soon found that automobile travel, especially at high speed, 
disintegrated or tore up the macadam or gravel roads, especially 
on the curves, as soon as there were any considerable number, say 
50 or more in a day. The traffic, of course, increased tremendously 
in the number of vehicles, because of the large mileage of the auto¬ 
mobiles. What had been country roads developed, between that 
year and the present year, into main through routes carrying often¬ 
times away out in the country on a main route over 1000 cars a day. 

TRAFFIC AND COST OF MAINTENANCE 

In connection with maintenance, of vital consideration is traffic. 
I, therefore, am submitting a table showing the average traffic on 
the Massachusetts State Highways in 1909 and 1912. 


206 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


Increases and Changes in Traffic from 1909 to 1912 

In Massachusetts the traffic using our roads is constantly increas¬ 
ing, but it is changing much more rapidly than it is increasing. This 
is conclusively shown by the following table. 


KIND OF VEHICLE 

1909 CENSUS, 

238.5 STATIONS 

1912 CENSUS, 156.5 8TATIONS 

Av. total No. 

per day 

Av. No. per 

day per Sta. 

% of No. per 

Sta. 

Av. total No. 

per day 

Av. No. per 

day per Sta. 

% of No. per 

Sta. 

Increase or de¬ 

crease, % 

Motors: 








Runabouts. 

4,958.5 

20.8 

8.5 

5,819.0 

37.2 

11 

+79 

Touring cars.. 

17,950.5 

75.3 

30.5 

27,178.5 

173.5 

49 

+130 

Trucks. 




1,800.0 

11.5 

3 


Total motors. 

22,909.0 

96.1 

39.0 

34,797.5 

222.2 

63 

+131 

Horse-drawn vehicles: 








1-horse, light. 

17,033.0 

71.5 

29.0 

8,380.0 

53.6 

15 

-25 

1-horse, heavy. 

11,762.5 

49.3 

20.0 

7,458.0 

47.6 

14 

-3 

2 or more horses, light. 

1,006.0 

4.2 

2.0 

556.0 

3.6 

1 

-14 

2 or more horses, heavy. 

6,205.5 

26.0 

10.0 

3,870.5 

24.7 

7 

-5 

Total horse-drawn.». 

36,007.0 

151.0 

61.0 

20,264.6 

129 4 

37 

-14 

Totals of all kinds. 


247.1 



351.6 


+42 


Also, a table showing the traffic on certain roads at night. 

We had a count made for 24 hours a day at a few points, and 
the result may be interesting, so I print a short table. 


Day and Night, 12 hours each — October, 1912 



AUTOMOBILES 

VEHICLES (ALL KINDS) 

TOTAL 

VEHICLES 

PEHCTGS. 
AT NIGHT 


Day 

Night 

Day 

Night 

Lexington. 

302 

59 

438 

104 

542 

19 

Watertown. 

373 

72 

671 

141 

812 

17 

Chelsea. 

103 

10 

358 

53 

411 

13 

Somerville. 

266 

70 

689 

231 

920 

25 

Boston. 

358 

69 

513 

94 

607 

15 




I computed several night and day counts for the two years to get 
and average, and found that on the average the night traffic consti¬ 
tuted about 18 per cent of the total traffic; consequently, one should 
add about 22 per cent to the 14-hour day count to ascertain the 
total number of vehicles. 

And the traffic in some of the parks around Boston. 

Pleasure Traffic Around Boston 

The census near Boston in the parks may be interesting, but it 
must be remembered that it is, in many instances, light pleasure 
traffic. The following figures relate to the census taken in August, 
1912. 










































ROAD MAINTENANCE 


207 


Metropolitan Parks 

(Mostly Pleasure Vehicles) 


LOCATION 

TOTAL OF ALL 
VEHICLES 

MOTOR VEHICLES 

% MOTOR TO 
TOTAL TRAFFIC 

Lynn, Prescott PI. & Shore Res. 

1,530 

1,411 

92 

Revere, Saugus River Bridge. 

1,872 

1,808 

97 

Somerville, Alewife Bridge. 

491 

474 

97 

Medford, Parkway and Main street. 

515 

492 

95 

‘Somerville, Wellington Bridge. 

2,526 

2,174 

86 

•Milton, Mattapan Bridge. 

2,383 

1,717 

72 

Medford, Malden River Bridge. 

1,884 

1,848 

98 


Boston Parks 

(All Classes of Vehicles) 


Prince St., Jamaica Plain. 

Commonwealth Ave., a city residential 

1,934 

1,715 

89 

street. 

3,009 

2,634 

88 

Washington St., a suburban city avenue... 

1,109 

671 

60 


* All classes of vehicles. 


At the last two points there were daily 247 and 296 heavy teams. 
I am also giving a table showing the cost of construction, repair, 
and maintenance of State highways in Massachusetts for 19 years. 

Cost for Construction, Repair and Maintenance of State Highways, from 

1894 to 1913 



REPAIR AND MAINTENANCE 

STATE HIGHWAYS 

Year 

Cost 

Miles 

Av. cost per 
mile per year 

Miles laid out 

Cost of 
Construction 

1894 




39.88 


1895 




50.03 

$637,847 

1896 

$4,727 

89.10 

$53.05 

37.02 

458,581 

1897 

13,267 

126.01 

105.28 

53.25 

482,076 

1898 

20,661 

179.26 

115.26 

42.68 

499,783 

1899 

24,538 

221.94 

110.56 

44.56 

407,309 

1900 

33,562 

266.50 

125.93 

49.40 

396,459 

1901 

31,061 

315.90 

98.32 

61.68 

453,826 

1902 

59,943 

377.58 

158.75 

53.32 

466,743 

1903 

55,083 

430.90 

127.83 

74.17 

443,972 

1904 

51,896 

505.03 

102.76 

60.85 

44o,745 

1905 

57,456 

565.88 

101.53 

56.55 

509,007 

1906 

68,382 

622.45 

109.86 

47.92 

444,655 

1907 

106,189 

670.37 

158.40 

39.33 

467,944 

1908 

147,037 

709.70 

323.47 

38.40 

564,719 


82,628* 





1909 

247,985 

154,131* 

748 27 

537.39 

36.53 

431,814 

1910 

214,561 

289,498* 

784.80 

642.28 

52.80 

462,165 

1911 

213,476 

316,603* 

837.59 

632.86 

42.00 

412,542 

1912 

208,687 

414,407* 

879.59 

708.39 

40.72 

366,424 

1913 

203,762 

595,183* 

920.31 

868.13 

60.06 

909,063 

; 




980.88 

9,262,674 


Average cost of Repair and Maintenance, 1895 to 1907, inclusive, $105 per 
mile per year. 

Average cost of Repair and Maintenance, 1908 to 1913, inclusive, $619 per 
mile per year. 

Average cost of Repair and Maintenance, 1895 to 1913, inclusive, $267 per 
mile per year. 

* Motor Vehicle Fees Fund. 



































208 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


In this connection I am giving a table showing the number of motor 
cars registered in Massachusetts from 1906 to 1914 inclusive. You 
will note that the number of automobiles registered has increased 
from about 7300 in 1906 to over 84,000 in 1914, and fully one-third 
of the traffic on our main roads consists of automobiles from other 
States. 

You will note also that there were less than 1000 trucks registered 
in 1909 and five years later in 1914 there were 8000—8 times as 
many. 


Statement Showing the Number of Motor Cars Registered and Licenses Issued 

1906 to 1914 



| 1906 

1907 

1908 

1909 

1910 

1911 

1912 

1913 

1914 

Autos (pleasure). 

Dealers’ autos.j 

Trucks. 

6,572 

755 

7,733 

455 

18,066 

1,905 

23,011 

2,455 

960 

29,792 

3,305 

1,568 

36,284 

4,920 

2,623 

46,096 

6,301 

4,036 

56,712 

7,462 

5,948 

68,100 

7,898 

8,053 

Operator and chauf. 

7,327 

10,083 

8,188 
10 696 

19,971 

13,170 

26,426 

18,251 

34,665 

41,259 

43,827 

51,950 

56,433 

66,645 

70,122 

81,034 

84,051 

95,577 

Total Receipts. 

$33,085 

$92,096 

$121,488 

$169,973 

$374,789 

$477,417 

$616,245 

$764,153 

$914,119 


Prior to 1907, certificates of registration did not expire annually. 

Prior to 1909, trucks were not classified. 

Between 1903 and 1907, all automobile registration fees were 

$ 2 . 

In 1907 the automobile registration fee was increased from $2 to 
$5. In that year 9006 cars, registered at $2, were re-registered in 
the same year at $5. 

Beginning January 1, 1910, the automobile registration fees were 
based on the horse-powers of the vehicles, the fees varying from $5 
1o $25. The fee for registration of a truck, however, was $5 regard¬ 
less of the horse-power. 

Prior to 1910, operators’ licenses did not expire annually, but con¬ 
tinued in force indefinitely. Since 1910 all licenses have expired 
annually. 

Increase in Maintenance Cost 

Starting in 1907 you will note that our cost for maintenance has 
risen by leaps and bounds from $158 a mile a year in 1907 to over 
$850 a mile a year in 1913, and it is still higher in 1914. 

Our roads were rapidly going to pieces. We needed some money. 
We got the Legislature to double its appropriation of $100,000 a 
year and make it $250,000 for one year and $200,000 a year since. 
We secured an increase in the automobile fees, and had four-fifths 
of that money available for the maintenance of State highways, and 
the other one-fifth for the improvement or maintenance of through 
routes in the towns. 

We found that our old roads were being destroyed by the rapidly 


























HOAD MAINTENANCE 


209 


increasing amount of automobile travel. The traffic on the roads 
had increased from 10 to 40 times in volume. 

Our roads, both gravel and macadam, were rapidly being torn up 
by the automobiles and deposited in dust over the country. They 
were rutted, pot-holes developed, and, as you see, we had to increase 
our maintenance cost. The question was, how to best preserve our 
old roads. 

In 1907 we began to use a bituminous material as a surface coat. 
We used refined tar and a heavy cold asphaltic oil, applying about 
one-half gallon to the square yard. 

Proper Methods for Economical Maintenance 

In passing let me say as a result of our experience in the use of 
bituminous binders on road surfaces, that we invariably true up the 
surface and patch the holes and ruts first. We invariably thoroughly 
brush and clean the road down to the stone or hard gravel. We 
invariably spread our bitumen, whether tar or asphaltic oil, evenly 
and under pressure. We invariably cover it and keep it covered so 
that it will not pick up, brushing the cover back from time to time 
when necessary. We cover it with pea-stone and dust, unless we can 
secure a good pea-stone in sand or gravel, or we coat it when the 
other method is too expensive and traffic is light, with a coarse sharp 
sand. Thereafter, constantly and eternally, we keep the road and 
road surface patched, using in patching substantially the same bitum¬ 
inous material that was used for the surface coat. 

We used one-half gallon per square yard of heavy asphaltic oil 
that had to be heated to 250° spread upon the road. We used the 
same quantity of the heaviest oil that could be spread cold. Where 
we had only money enough for a dust layer, we used one-fifth to one- 
quarter of a gallon of light asphaltic oil per square yard, this oil 
sometimes being called a 40 per cent oil. We used one-half gallon 
of hot refined tar, and we have used after the first application one- 
quarter of a gallon of the same tar yearly. We have used water-gas 
tar and various proprietary materials of a bituminous nature known 
by various trade names. In every instance that has succeeded the 
road has always been properly cleaned and patched beforehand, and 
has always been covered and kept sufficiently covered to prevent 
its picking up. It has been constantly patched. 

Surface Coatings of Asphaltic Oils, Tars, etc. 

Today nine-tenths of all our State highways that have not been 
resurfaced have been coated and kept coated with some bituminous 
material and have been kept constantly patched. Where the heavy 
hot oil was used, it has lasted in some instances for five years, carrying 
a large amount of automobile travel but a small amount of heavy 
teaming. Under many heavy teams it has failed in a month or two. 
We have then used a light oil to lay the dust and prevent the auto¬ 
mobiles from tearing the road up, and have left the stone to carry 
the travel until we could resurface the road. 


210 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


Because of the automobile traffic on many main routes, we are 
now using in our resurfacing a bituminous top two to three inches 
deep. We have used refined tars by both the mixing and grouting 
method. We have used asphalts with the same methods, and we 
believe that use is economical and necessary on any roads that have 
more than 50 automobiles a day and where there are more than 50 
loaded teams. 

I am giving a table showing the class and character of surfaced 
roads that we believe will stand traffic of a certain class, kind, and 
character—we believe it will prove economical and satisfactory with 
the traffic. 

1914 —AVERAGE DAILY TRAFFIC 


Table showing results of observations of traffic on different types of road surfaces 
in Massachusetts—Standard Road, 15 feet in width, gravel or waterbound mac - 
adam 5 to 6 inches in thickness, with adequate drainage and proper foundation , 
with S-foot gravel shoulder on each side. 


A good gravel road will wear reasonably well and be eco¬ 
nomical with. 

Needs to be oiled with. 

Oiled gravel, fairly good heavy cold oil, § gal. to the sq. 

yd., applied annually with. 

Water-bound macadam will stand with. 

Cold oil or tar will prove serviceable on such macadam 

with. 

Macadam will then stand but the stone wears, of course, 

with. 

Water-bound macadam with hot asphaltic oil blanket 
will be economical with. 


And stand at least. 

But will crumble and perhaps fail with over. 

(on narrow tires, ice, farm and wood teams, etc.)... 
Water-bound macadam with a good surface coating of tar 

($ gal. to the sq. yd.) will stand with. 

but requires to be recoated annually with J gal. of tar 
per sq. yd. 


LIGHT TEAMS, j 

CARRIAGES 

WAGONS 

HEAVY TEAMS, 
1-HORSE 

HEAVY TEAMS, ] 

2 OR MORE | 

HORSES 

AUTOMOBILES 

50-75 

25-30 

10-15 

50 to 75 

50-75 

25-30 

10-15 

over 75 

75-100 

30-50 

20 

500 to 700 or more 

175-200 

175-200 

60-80 

not over 50 at 
high speed 

175-200 

175-200 

60-80 

50-500 

175-200 

175-200 

60-80 

500 or more 

100-150 

50-75 

25-30 

1500 and more 
with fewer 
teams 

50 trucks 

150 

75 

30 


100-150 

50-75 

25-30 

1500 or more 


It is assumed that all road surfaces are kept constantly patched, that be¬ 
fore applying bitumen the road surface is cleaned and patched, and the bitu¬ 
men covered with pea stone and sand or gravel and kept covered so that it 
never picks up. 


Of course, in connection with this table it is absolutely essential 
that the drainage and foundation are sufficient and the material 
used is strong enough to carry the heaviest load which goes over the 
road without the road’s being rapidly destroyed. 


Materials That Have Not Failed 

The foregoing table has been somewhat changed as the result of 
our experience since 1912 when I first published a like table. 

It expresses the consensus of opinion of our chief engineer and four 
division engineers and my own best judgment. 






















ROAD MAINTENANCE 


211 


The results have all been obtained on many miles of road where 
we have used a good grade of asphaltic oil, either hot or cold, heavy 
or light, or a good grade of refined tar. 

We have had many failures on short sections of road where a non- 
asphaltic oil was used or a poor grade of oil or tar, and many pro¬ 
prietary so-called dust-layers have failed. Roads that failed have 
been resurfaced or retreated, but the results are not tabulated in 
the above table. 

The table relates merely to the maintenance of gravel or water- 
bound macadam roads, not to bituminous macadam. 

It represents our average experience on many miles of road at 
over 150 observation points. 

Certain exceptions should be noted. 

Army manoeuvers, especially large bodies of cavalry and artillery, 
will rapidly destroy any bituminous blanket surface. 

A blanket coat of hot oil on macadam will carry a much larger 
number of teams if there is a ratio of two to three automobiles on 
pneumatic tires to each team to keep the bituminous surface con¬ 
stantly rolled down when the horses and teams pick it up. 

But note that a very few teams on narrow tires, or a few very heavy 
teams every day, will destroy the surface if the load is heavy enough 
to shear down entirely through the surface to the stone. 

If this process is repeated once or twice a day, a rut soon develops 
and the road becomes muddy and the bituminous surface rapidly 
disintegrated. 

Light oil or cold tar will then be more serviceable, laying the dust 
while the stone takes the wear. 

We have maintained a few miles of road in reasonably satisfactory 
condition with annual applications of a cold tar or water gas tar. 
They have required one-half gallon per square yard annually, and 
the results have been about the same and certainly no better than 
where we have applied two quarter gallon coats per square yard off 
light asphaltic oil the first year and one quarter gallon per square 
yard each succeeding year. 

The cost for the cold tar has been more. 

Invariably we clean and patch the road first and cover the bitumi¬ 
nous material sufficiently to prevent its picking up. 

We have sometimes tried dispensing with the cleaning and cover¬ 
ing but shall not repeat that expensive experiment. 

We can usually have the light asphaltic oil sprayed onto the roads 
by motor trucks for 1.2 cents to 1.5 cents per square yard, using 
one-fifth to one-quarter gallon per square yard. 

The cleaning, patching, and covering costs about the same. 

Maintenance Methods 

On gravel roads we have found it necessary to keep them constantly 
shaped and patched. We drag some of our roads once a week where 
there are 150 or more automobiles a day. We have found on the 


212 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


hills that have rutted with that traffic that it was more economical 
to use a quarter of a gallon per square yard, of light asphaltic oil, 
using the first year two applications and in subsequent years one, 
keeping it properly covered. Roads of this character have been 
extremely satisfactory with the traffic of a very large number of 
automobiles, certainly 500 a day, but they will not stand a large 
amount of heavy horse-drawn vehicles and probably will not stand 
many loaded trucks. 

As you will note from the table given before, our ordinary main¬ 
tenance which has consisted of keeping the drainage open, shoulders 
cut back, and the road sanded, with slight patching, has averaged 
about SI00 a mile a year. Where the road can be maintained with 
light oil, the additional cost is about $250 a mile a year, or $350 a 
mile a year in all. The cost of heavy oil or tar on the surface where 
it is suitable to use it because it will stand the traffic, is about twice 
the cost of the light oil in the first instance, and with the patching 
and all that is necessary it will cost about the same figure, or about 
$250 to $500 a mile a year, this being on a five-year basis. 

In resurfacing our roads with two to three-inch bituminous mac¬ 
adam top, the cost has varied from about 50 cents a square yard for 
a one and one-half inch top no stone being larger than an inch and 
a quarter, and a gallon and a quarter of tar sprayed into it, to $1.10 
a square yard for a three-inch top, made of two and one-half-inch 
stone, either mixed or grouted with a good grade of asphalt. The 
tar-sand grouted macadam has cost from 90 cents to a dollar per 
square yard. We believe that the roads of this character will have 
a very small maintenance cost outside of the ordinary maintenance 
for a period of from eight to twelve years. I am inserting some 
tables showing the maintenance cost on certain roads compared with 
the maintenance cost in England on roads of the same character; 
lo wit, water-bound macadam, giving the cost per mile and the cost 
per ton per mile for each vehicle that is going over them. This 
figured upon the following formula, which is substantially the same 
in England and France: 


Assumed Average Weight of Vehicles in tons 


1 { Runabouts. 

Touring Cars. 

Trucks.... 

Light Vehicles 1 , . 

Heavy Vehicles f one horse . 

Light Vehicles 1 . , 

Heavy Vehicles / two or more horses ; ]; 


1.43 

2.23 

6.25 

0.36 

1.12 

0.54 

2.46 


The cost in Massachusetts per vehicle per mile as shown by our 
maintenance cost and traffic census taken in three-year periods has 
been substantially one cent a vehicle per mile until we began to use 
bituminous binders. It now figures about eight-tenths of a cent a 
vehicle a mile. 







ROAD MAINTENANCE 


213 


Traffic and Maintenance 

Quantity and character of traffic. 

Economical maintenance and cost thereof. 

Materials and methods to be adapted to the traffic that the road 
has to bear. 

ENGLISH ROADS 

There is a very interesting and useful paper on construction and 
maintenance published in connection with the International Road 
Congress in 1913, this paper giving the experience of five of the most 
competent road engineers in England. 

I am printing a table showing the weight in traffic in tons carried 
one mile for one cent of maintenance cost. 


{All ivaterbound macadam with or without surface tar ) 


COUNTY 

WEIGHT OP TRAFFIC 

IN TONS 

AVERAGE 

COST 

WEIGHT IN 
TONS 

CARRIED 1 
MILE FOR 
ONE CENT 

COST OF 
MAINTE¬ 
NANCE IN 
CENTS TER 
TRAFFIC 
TON-MILE 

Per day 

Per 

Annum 

Per mile 
per annum 

Norfolk. 

39 

14,200 

$206.25 

.70 

1.42 


96 

35,000 

80.00 

4.50 

22 

Warwick. 

185 

67,500 

430.00 

1.60 

62 


239 

87,200 

635.00 

1.45 

68 


242 

88,300 

430.00 

2.15 

46 

•Kent. 

348 

126,700 

1,495.00 

.85 

118 

Norfolk. 

359 

131,000 

366.25 

3.70 

26 


385 

140,500 

281.25 

5.20 

192 


390 

142,300 

275.00 

5.35 

186 

Warwick. 

451 

164,600 

635.00 

2.70 

36 

Norfolk. 

504 

184,000 

251.25 

7.55 

132 

Kent. 

528 

192,100 

1,740.00 

1.10 

90 

Warwick. .... . 

609 

222,000 

1,345 00 

1 70 

58 


734 

268,000 

2,095.00 

1.35 

74 


736 

268,600 

670.00 

3.95 

264 

•Kent. 

796 

289,800 

960.00 

3.15 

32 

E. Sussex. 

984 

359,000 

1,665.00 

2.20 

44 

Norfolk. 

1,057 

386,000 

1,090.00 

3.65 

26 

•Kent. 

3,030 

1,102,810 

10,500.00 

1.05 

94 


3,030 

1,102,810 

8,960.00 

1.25 

80 

•Surrey. 

5,694 

2,078,300 

5,160.00 

4.20 

24 


5,694 

2,078,300 

3,020.00 

7.15 

14 


Comparison with two Massachusetts Roads 


Beverly. 

2,898 

1,058,430 

3,257.00 

6.50 

37 

Weston. 

1,920 

699,924 

1,993.00 

7.02 

28 


* Surface tarred. 
Period of 14 years. 


I have used the English long-ton but have changed the pennies 
to cents. This table shows that the cost on water-bound macadam 
roads to carry one ton one mile over the road, varies from about 
a quarter of a cent to one and one-half cents for the maintenance. 
This illustrates very well, I think, the necessity of the traffic census 
showing the class and character of the vehicles which use the road 
rather than any formula which merely uses as assumed weight for 
each class of vehicle. 

































214 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


Massachusetts Experience 

We have found on our roads in Massachusetts that the largest 
cost of up-keep on macadam roads could come from two causes; 
first, automobile travel, which would disintegrate a plain gravel or 
macadam road in a month if there were many automobiles. This 
could be prevented by the use of some bituminous material on the 
surface, provided the team traffic was not so heavy that it would 
quickly wear the binder out. A large number of heavily-laden teams, 
of say three tons or more, would wear the binder out in a very short 
time. Also, a very large number of heavy loads carried on narrow 
tires would wear a macadam road out relatively quickly. Some of 
the roads that I am showing would be worn from a half inch to an 
inch a year if of macadam, whereas when a bituminous macadam 
road with a three-inch top was constructed amount of wear was 
very much reduced. 

The necessity for knowing the kind of travel is well shown by the 
English tables. On one road in one of the counties it cost one and 
four-tenth cents to carry a ton a mile, and on another macadam 
road in the same county it cost twelve-hundredths of a cent. It 
appears from the English figures that when the cost of maintenance 
exceeded two-thirds of a cent a ton a mile, it was more economical 
to use granite block on a concrete base. The cost for annual main¬ 
tenance of a six-inch block on a concrete base near the docks in 
Liverpool has been fifty-eight one-thousandths of a cent a ton a 
mile. 

I am enclosing a table of some of the costs of different kinds of 
street surfaces and pavements in Liverpool. 


Table giving particulars of experience obtained in Liverpool with different classes 
of surface pavement—including life-tonnage and ton miles 
per yard width per cent of cost 


PAVEMENT 

TONS PER YARD WIDTH 
PER ANNUM 

LIFE, YEARS 

LIFE TONNAGE PER 
YARD WIDTH 

COST PER SQUARE 
YARD OF SURFACE 

ANNUAL C08T INCLUD¬ 
ING PROPORTION OF 
CAPITAL AND MAIN¬ 
TENANCE PER 8Q. 
YARD 

TON MILES PER YARD 
WIDTH PER CENT 

COST IN CENTS PER 
TRAFFIC PER MILE 

0-inch Belgium Block. 

524,000 

18 

9,432,000 

$2.50 

$.17 

17 

.058 

4-inch Belgium Block. 

150,000 

50 

7,500,000 

1.87 

.07 

12 

.08 

Hardwood. 

162,000 

17 

2,754.000 

3.37 

.25 

3.7 

.272 

Softwood. 

204,000 

18 

3,672,000 

2.12 

.15 

7.7 

.128 

4-inch Pitch Macadam. 

120,000 

11 

1,320,000 

.75 

.006 

10.3 

.096 

7-inch Water-bound Macadam 

120,000 

1 

120,000 


.18 

3.8 

.264 

7-inch Water-bound Macadam 
Tar sprayed. 

120,000 

2 

240,000 

.25 

.12 

5.7 

.18 


Tonnages on Roads Board basis, except on exceptionally heavy traffic when it is based on esti¬ 
mated total actual weights. 

English Ton <=■ 2240 pounds. 


















ROAD MAINTENANC® 


216 







00 














































216 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


Explanation of Table 

The above represents actual facts in Massachusetts. It illus¬ 
trates the misleadingness of statistics if read without adequate 
knowledge of actual conditions. 

The variation in the costs shown are due to various causes, traffic 
and weight, toughness of stone, whether road has been resurfaced 
or not, good and bad bituminous materials, and proper and improper 
use of materials. 

A study of each road will prove profitable. 

Ashby, with high cost of maintenance, small traffic, can be com¬ 
pared with Hamilton, with more traffic and a small cost for main¬ 
tenance, per ton. 

Ashby, built of local stone, comparatively soft, was resurfaced 
with the same local stone when the road was about 12 years old, 
30 tons being used to each 100 feet of road. It is a country road. 
It had an application of cold asphaltic oil in 1913, one-quarter gallon 
being used to the square yard of road. Practically, the stone had 
worn down one-quarter of an inch a year. 

Hamilton was built of trap rock macadam and it is on a main 
through route. When the road was eight years old the stone had 
worn down about three inches, and the road needed resurfacing. 
Automobiles had arrived. 

In 1907, one-half gallon of the heaviest asphaltic oil that can be 
applied cold was spread upon the road and properly covered with 
pea stone and gravel. This treatment was repeated for two years. 
Then one-quarter gallon of heavy hot asphaltic oil was sprayed 
upon the road and properly covered; this treatment has been re¬ 
peated once. The road has been constantly kept patched and sanded 
when necessary. It is in better condition today than in 1907. 

Beverly , with a high cost of maintenance per ton mile, can be 
compared with Lynn, with a small cost per ton mile. Both roads 
are on main routes. Both were trap rock macadam. 

Beverly has a large number of heavy ice teams on three-inch tires. 
It was resurfaced with trap rock when the road was eight or nine 
years old, 30 tons of stone being used to each 100 feet of road. The 
trap rock had worn down one-third of an inch a year. In 1910 it 
was coated with one-half gallon of hot asphaltic oil per square yard, 
properly covered with pea stone and dust. This failed in one month 
under the heavy ice teaming, though the same material and methods 
were used on the next 20 miles of road on the same route, and the 
surface has stood ever since with constant patching and one-quarter 
of a gallon per square yard of the same oil sprayed onto the centre 
of the road, eight feet in width. 

For the next four years the Beverly road was maintained (except 
where it was resurfaced) by the use of one-quarter of a gallon of 
cold oil per square yard, two applications being used the first year, 
one each year since. 


ROAD MAINTENANCE 


217 


One-third of the road was resurfaced in 1913 with an asphaltic 
macadam two inches in depth, at a cost of $1.20 per square yard, 
two and one-half-inch stone being used because of the heavy teams 
and trucks. 

Lynn, trap rock macadam, connects with Parkway where only 
pleasure vehicles are admitted, except on local business. 

In 1907, one-half gallon of hot refined tar was sprayed upon the 
road, and covered and kept covered with pea stone and dust. It 
was constantly patched, with tar and chips. It has been recoated 
twice with hot refined tar sprayed upon the road and covered as 
before. 

It is in excellent condition, but note—90 per cent of the travel is 
motor vehicles; it has few teams and fewer heavy teams. 

Medford-Somerville, a trap rock macadam, built with the two and 
one-half inch stone on top. A road 28 feet in width, with heavy 
city teaming. A stone quarry on the side crushing 100 to 300 tons 
of stone a day. 

This road has never been in good condition since it was two years 
old. It always has some depressions, although it has been con¬ 
stantly patched and all depressions filled with trap rock. Constantly 
means daily. It has always been muddy. 

A part of it was resurfaced with asphalt macadam this year, the 
portion beyond the stone quarries. The whole road needs it. It 
has been treated with tar. A part of it has been coated with heavy 
tar. A portion had three coats of one-quarter gallon each of hot 
refined tar, covered with pea stone, in one year. It failed, was 
never in good condition, and we are in doubt whether to reconstruct 
with granite block on a concrete base, with concrete, or to try an 
asphaltic macadam. 

Milton is a road of the same character with many heavy granite 
teams going over it. 

The cost has been high because the trap rock wore out so rapidly 
under the heavy concentrated loads on iron tires. 

Saugus. Trap rock macadam on a through route with a great 
deal of heavy teaming, both teams and trucks. 

The stone wore out over one-half-inch a year. It needed constant 
patching with additional stone, was never in excellent condition 
except when recently resurfaced. 

It had two to three inches of new stone every four or five years. 
In 1910 it was resurfaced with three inches of asphaltic macadam 
at a cost of about $1 per square yard. 

This has stood ever since but has needed some patching. A por¬ 
tion was built in the fall when it was cold and this portion failed. 
No bituminous work should be done in cold weather and a tempera¬ 
ture of over 60 degrees is vastly better than one of under 40. 

Shrewsbury. A through route—too much heavy hot oil was used 
on it before we understood how to use oil. One-half gallon per 
square yard was applied on two successive years. 


218 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


It rolled, rutted and was always in bad condition. It has cost 
a good deal to remove surplus oil, smooth off the bunches and rolls 
and keep it patched. 

Thuro. A country road, with little traffic. Built 12 feet wide 
of four inches of broken stone on sand, the stone being bound with 
clay. An experiment but a failure. 

The road was constantly ravelling and needed more stone. It 
was widened to 16 feet. New stone was added and rolled in and 
it was coated with light oil in 1912 and 1913 and is now in good 
condition. 

Weston. A macadam road on a through route. Refined tar ap¬ 
plied in 1907—oiled with hot oil on surface in 1909 and 1910— 
maintained with patching until 1912 when a portion of the road 
was resurfaced with a two-inch bituminous macadam. 

Two and one-half-inch stones of trap rock were rolled hard and 
about one and three-quarters to two gallons to the square yard of 
a good grade of asphalt being sprayed in under pressure. This was 
covered with the smaller stone, rolled, and on some portions of the 
road a surface application was sprayed of one-third to one-half gallon 
per square yard, properly covered with pea-stone and rolled. This 
cost from 90 cents to SI per square yard. The road is in most 
excellent condition and we expect to have it wear 10 to 15 years 
with practically no patching, although we may have to renew the 
surface coating by spraying every three to five years. We have 
one road of this kind six years old, that hasn't needed a single patch 
as yet. 

Motor Trucks and the Cost of Road Maintenance 

Mr. H. T. Wakeland, engineer of the county of Middlesex which 
is just out of London and has a very large amount of traffic over 
its roads, has given some very careful figures showing damage caused 
to roads by motor omnibuses weighing about six tons each when 
laden. He took certain roads which had heavy traffic and gave the 
cost of maintenance (not including watering or cleaning) for macadam 
roads for three years previous to the motor bus traffic, and the cost 
per square yard for the year 1912-13. I insert a table: 


Road 

Average cost per yard super 
per annum for three years 
previous to motor 

Cost per yard super for 
1912-13 since the 
advent of motor 

A 

omnibus traffic 
( cents ) 

13.5 

omnibuses 

(cents) 

25.8 

B 

11.2 

33.1 

C 

14.1 

41.9 

D 

15.6 

16.9 

E 

9.1 

15.4 

F 

8.7 

15.1 

G 

5.9 

16.8 

H 

5.1 

11.1 

I 

21.5 

36.4 

J 

16.9 

42.9 

Average 

12.3 

25.6 


ROAD MAINTENANCE 


219 


This shows that the average cost of maintenance for three years 
before the motor bus came in was about 12 cents a square yard a 
year. Since the motor bus was put on the cost has increased to 
over 25 cents a square yard a year. The maintenance cost to carry 
one ton one mile in 1911-12 was 1.2 cents. When the motor bus 
was put on the maintenance cost was raised to 1.8 cents per ton 
per mile. Mr. Wakeland’s opinion is that this increase was prac¬ 
tically all due to the motor bus. The increased cost of the road 
up-keep has been found to be about four cents per car per mile, 
or two-thirds of a cent per ton per mile in the case of a motor bus 
on rubber tires. In many cases the macadam surface has been 
practically destroyed by motor bus traffic on hard rubber tires. 
These were macadam roads in good standard condition prior to the 
inauguration of the motor bus traffic and more than sufficient to 
carry the ordinary traffic. The road authorities should be author¬ 
ized to direct which roads shall and which roads shall not be used 
by motor vehicles and motor buses, and Mr. Wakeland states, as 
do the other county engineers in England, that a license fee of $50 
a year for motor trucks is entirely insufficient to pay for the in¬ 
creased cost of maintenance caused by the use of the trucks on the 
roads. 

CONCLUSION 

A road means a highway that can be traveled over with reason¬ 
able convenience and with reasonable effort by ordinary vehicles. 
Two ruts and a horse track with six inches of mud and large pot¬ 
holes scattered frequently over its surface do not constitute a road. 

A road to be a road worthy of the name must be constructed and 
maintained so that it will at all times satisfactorily and economically 
bear the traffic which passes over it. 

Good drainage, foundation whenever necessary, and a top sur¬ 
face always maintained so that it will shed water, are necessary 
prerequisites. If any one of them is missing you do not have a 
good road. Constant maintenance is eternally necessary; drainage 
must be always open, and road surfaces must always be maintained. 
The most economical way to maintain a road is by constant main¬ 
tenance. 

With modern Massachusetts motor vehicle travel, a newly-built 
macadam road without any bituminous materials having been used 
on it, will easily be destroyed in one month, so far as its surface is 
concerned, and will be damaged so that it will require 15 to 25 cents 
a square yard to put it back into condition so that some bituminous 
material can be used. 

Roads and road surfaces must bear the traffic that goes over them. 
The tables I have printed show conclusively how expensive it is 
if materials are not used and methods are not used with those 
materials, so that the road can withstand the traffic which goes 
over it. 


220 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


I think by a study of the tables and our experience, you can 
gather, knowing the traffic on your road, what will probably be the 
most economical way to construct or reconstruct your road. 

With a certain volume and weight of traffic, granite block on a 
concrete base will perhaps be the most economical, especially for 
heavy concentrated loads. Thirty-ton loads on four wheels are 
very common near the docks in Liverpool, where six-inch granite 
block on a concrete base has worn 18 years. 

In figuring costs you must figure what the road has to bear in 
tons or otherwise. Speaking in round numbers, you will find on 
figuring the English roads and American roads that it costs about 
a cent a vehicle a mile per year to maintain the roads. It would 
not surprise me if the same were true on dirt roads. Dirt roads, of 
course, will not stand very much heavy teaming, no matter if they 
are kept constantly patched. 

This money jou must have and it must be properly expended if 
your original cost of construction is not to be lost and you are not 
to find yourself saddled with a debt on which you are constantly 
paying interest years after the road has passed away in dust. 

But you must go further than that and figure what are the proper 
methods, proper materials, and the best and most economical sur¬ 
faces. As I have shown, for merely automobile travel, cars on 
pneumatic tires, you can economically and satisfactorily maintain 
a gravel or macadam road in the summer season by the proper use 
of a good bitumen and constant maintenance and patching. 

You can maintain a water-bound macadam road, if the traffic is 
not too heavy and by too heavy I mean too much teaming, by the 
same methods. 

You can maintain a bituminous macadam road more economically 
than either of the above roads when the traffic in teams or trucks 
is so heavy that neither of the other roads are economical. With 
heavy concentrated roads that will crush or wear a trap-rock mac¬ 
adam say at the rate of from one-half-inch to an inch a year, water- 
bound macadam is not economical, either with or without a bitumi¬ 
nous surface. Bituminous macadam will be much cheaper in the 
end. That is, of course, provided bituminous macadam can with¬ 
stand the traffic that goes over it. 

With a certain volume of traffic it is more economical to construct 
a pavement probably on a concrete base or possibly in some places 
a concrete road. 

You will note that the increased cost on many water-bound mac¬ 
adam roads in England when the motor bus service was put on was 
substantially four cents a mile for every mile that the buses, which 
weighed six tons including their load, went over the road. Propor¬ 
tionately a small runabout would probably cost about a quarter of 
a cent; a large touring car from one to two cents, and probably a 
heavy horse-drawn vehicle with a three-ton load would cost about 
the same. 


DISCUSSION 


221 


Constant maintenance costs money. Our labor costs are much 
in excess of those in France and England. Our materials probably 
average the same, though in Massachusetts our stone is cheaper than 
the French or English imported Belgium or Welsh granite, which 
is practically a hard trap-rock. 

You will note that all the French roads, even little country roads, 
cost over SI00 a mile a year on the average to maintain. You 
will note that even the little country roads in England have cost 
more. You will note that the French engineers practically state 
that they need $770 a mile for many miles of road on their main 
roads to adequately maintain them; that the English county engi¬ 
neers spent SHOO a mile on the average on their main county roads, 
and that we in Massachusetts are spending S850 a mile. 

These figures, of course, include not only ordinary maintenance 
but resurfacing when say one-half of the original road surface has 
worn off. 

The people must be made to realize that if the original invest¬ 
ment in roads is not to be lost, adequate provision must be made 
for the maintenance of the roads, and the money secured from 
some source. 

Remember that while 

The Knights are dust 
Their swords are rust 
Their souls are with 
The saints we trust 

the bonds will be presented on Resurrection Day. 

Mr. Suggs: It was not pertaining to the subject but I just want 
to know what is the benefit to be derived from this expenditure and 
what you get from your streets and what benefit they are in the State 
by reason of having these good roads? I have heard some great 
stories about the tourists leaving money in New England by reason 
of these good roads. 

Mr. Sohier: Don’t come into our State and think you will get 
away with any of your money. The tourists leave there, according 
to whether they stay at the Touraine in Boston or at Magnolia in 
Gloucester, Mass., or some of the country hotels, $2.50 to $10 a day, 
and they pay for their gasoline and $1.00 to $1.50 a day for their 
car. Unfortunately we don’t get that money for the roads. If 
we did, we would keep good roads all over the State. We, in New 
England, have got the best summer industry that anybody has got 
in any part of the United States except in some parts of California, 
and we are glad they are all coming up there wearing our roads 
out and leaving us their money. There is a little country town in 
western Massachusetts that had a valuation of $300,000. Our 
towns include the whole township and the town takes care of all 
the roads inside that township and collects both the State and county 


222 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


tax as a part of the town tax. It is not a borough inside of a town¬ 
ship, the roads are not maintained by the county; the county does 
not collect the tax except through the town. We maintain our 
own State highways. They started ten years ago improving their 
roads in that town. They borrowed the money; they put in at 
least $500 and sometimes $1000 a year and we have matched it under 
the State Aid Law and in the beginning we gave them all we could 
under the State Aid Law and with that money they got 10 miles of 
town highway built of gravel on a foundation where it was neces¬ 
sary. When they started the valuation of that town was $300,000. 
A few men who had come into that town increased their valuation 
to nearly $750,000; they have doubled the value of every acre of land 
on the main street and that town is appropriating some years 50 
per cent of its taxes for road improvement because they say if we only 
can improve the roads and so increase the valuation that the schools 
can wait and they will have twice as much money for our schools 
in five years. We in Massachusetts have had town after town that 
has doubled its valuation within five years after the time the road 
was built. We have just opened up a road over the Mohawk Trail 
between Greenfield and North Adams and when some of the gentle¬ 
men telegraph and say, “ What does it cost to build a macadam road 
per mile?” they’d better ask Brother MacDonald than myself. 
That road is nothing but a graded dirt road, poor dirt, some of it, 
and it is going to be maintained with a log drag. It is 16 miles long 
over a new location and it has cost us about $350,000 for 16 miles, 
without any improved surface whatever; and it is built in three 
towns where the total valuation of the three towns is less than 
$1,000,000; in other words we spent 33 per cent of all the valuation 
of those three towns to get a through road east and west in the 
northern part of Massachusetts, and there comes where I am wil¬ 
ling to make a bet; I will make a bet that five years from now the 
valuation of the towns in that neighborhood, or on the line of that 
road, will have increased four times the cost of the road. 

Mr. G. L. Burgess: So you are not burdened with the thought 
of losing money by building these good roads? 

Mr. Sohier: Our Legislature sometimes has made a special ap¬ 
propriation directing us to build roads that we think we ought nol 
to build. 

Mr. Burgess: How much does this dirt road cost per mile? 

Mr. Sohier: The cost on one-quarter mile section was at the 
rate of $60,000 a mile for grading. There were 100,000 yards of 
earth that came down during slides last winter. There’s 75,000 
yards of rock excavation on one side of the mountain; we did that 
at a cost of $1.50 a yard. 


DISCUSSION 


223 


Mr. Burgess: Our country is just a level country; we put up 
about a mile a day for about $8 a day. 

Mr. Sohier: You are very fortunate, sir. 

Mr. Swindel: We sent an engineer to your State in June 
to investigate some sand oil roads there as we called it. There 
is a little place in an adjoining county to us that has been built 
about a year and a half and it has got people in that county crazy 
about that class of road, and while we are in a day’s ride by auto¬ 
mobile of where the Indians are living in their native huts and we 
don’t get any State aid, neither have we had but very little engineer¬ 
ing aid in the roads in our State, we are not following the path of 
the calf that has been dead 200 years ago, and we want to know or 
would like to know if you could tell us anything about that asphalt 
oil sand road; I mean whether the sand is heated, whether the sand 
and asphalt are heated and mixed and put on the road hot, say, the 
road bed rolled and leveled off and that material put on and rolled 
down three or four inches thick, something like that. Do you know 
anything about the wearing qualities of that kind of road. 

Mr. Sohier: I would be happy to send the gentleman the 
specifications. We built an asphalt oil sand road in 1906. It was 
built by what we call a layer method in a little town on Cape Cod 
where there was nothing but sand, the road surface was hardened 
with loam and clay. I think we had to use loam at that time, 
so that it would not rut much. On that we spread three-quarters 
of a gallon of hot asphaltic oil, and you can get better grades of 
oil today than we used then if you buy the good grades with an 
asphalt base, and you will have an absolute failure if you buy oil 
with a paraffine base. If you get Mexican oil, California oil or 
Texas oil from the right wells, you will usually get good oil. Three- 
quarters of a gallon of oil was spread per square yard, very roughly. 
That had about an inch to an inch and a quarter of sand put over it 
and another three-quarters of a gallon of oil was spread over that, 
then another inch or an inch and a quarter of sand spread on that, 
and then another one-half of a gallon of oil spread on that, then 
about an inch of sand put over that. That road cost at that point 
$1700 a mile for a 16-foot road the first year. 

Now the next spring you jumped from hump to hump, you thought 
you had no road and you had a lot of ruts and holes and it was very 
uneven. It was harrowed with a disc harrow; first broken with a 
gang plow, harrowed and made fine with a disc harrow. If we could 
have used water, we would have secured better results but we did 
not have any water. It was shaped back, rolled in and given a 
little more oil on the surface. It stood us $2500 a mile the second 
year and we had a reasonably satisfactory road for 12 or 15 farm 
teams and light buggies a day and the road is on the job now and you 


224 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


would not know it from some of the other roads made by a mixing 
process, but we have been constantly filling ruts and holes and it 
has cost us about $300 a mile a year to keep that road up, but no more 
than the macadam road right alongside of it and the macadam road 
alongside of it is now getting 500 cars a day every pleasant day in the 
summer, and it is taking them and the old oil sand road is carrying 
the same. 

The road by the mixing method costs usually about $4500 a mile. 
You must get a good quality of oil, you must be sure your sand is 
dry and hot, about the same temperature as the oil. We are getting 
better results with a hot mixture. We did mix it by hand. We have 
had prices of 30 cents to 40 cents a square yard for the surface not 
including any grading or hardening the subgrade with clay or loam. 
We furnished oil to the contractor. That is for 4 inches thick and 
16 feet in width, and on those roads we are finding it is rather better 
to give them a surface application of oil the first year because it is 
very hard to get the man who will either rake the mixture smooth 
or put down his shovel so that he does not get a little bit of a ripple. 

The layer method costs $2500 a mile and the mixing method 
about $5000 for the surface. 

The first method takes two years, sometimes three, before you get 
a good road. By the other method you get a good road almost at 
once. You ask how long are they going to last? They are going to 
last us ten years provided they do not suddenly develop such a heavy 
traffic of heavily loaded teams on iron tires that they cut through. 
They have not cut through yet, and we put them right against 
macadam all the way from Boston to Cape Cod, 150 miles, bufc with 
large automobile traffic, not heavy team traffic, and we are a little 
bit afraid of the auto trucks. We know that one truck a day won’t 
hurt the road, or five trucks won’t hurt it, because we use trucks 
over it ourselves, but they are rutting it a little. We hope it is not 
going to rut much and we hope if we have to do anything to it, we 
will find that we can roll stone in on hot days and thus strengthen 
the road and save the top. In the future we can perhaps grade out 
sands, use a better and harder asphalt to make practically a sheet 
asphalt road without too great an increase in cost. 

Mr. Burgess: The road I mentioned was built in front of a hotel; 
the man is here in town that had charge of the construction, I don’t 
remember his name now, but while the road won’t get hot enough 
to run or puddle in hot weather, it is not perfectly hard, it is the 
least bit springy, you can take your knife and cut out a piece like 
that and stick it back in and rub your foot over it and in a little 
bit you can’t tell where it is, it seems to go back together. Well 
that road was constructed by burning all the vegetable matter 
out of the sand, having nothing but the pure sand and heating the 
oil to something like 250 and mixing it hot and putting it on the 
road and rolling it hot. It was mixed by hand, just a small piece, 


DISCUSSION 


225 


but we’ve got the roacl craze in our county; we’ve got sand up there 
that deep. 

Mr. Sohier: So have we. 

Mr. Burgess: And my Hillsboro County friend is building 
brick roads. We are not able to build brick roads; I don’t know that 
they are much richer than we are, but there’s more of them, so I 
don’t think we could build brick. The only material we have is a 
reasonably poor class of clay and we are using a great deal of that 
with the sand but it goes all to pieces; it won’t stand, and from the 
way that little piece of road looks down there and what our engi¬ 
neer reports he brought back from Cape Cod about that road up 
there, we have about decided that the sand asphalt road was our 
best road. 

Mr. Sohier: Where do you come from? 

Mr. Burgess: South Florida. 

Mr. Sohier: I think if you have got really a hot climate, if I 
were in your place, I’d use the heavier oils, I would use some of 
the oils that you want to heat to 300 to 350; you can still make 
it mix if you will heat your sand to the same temperature. 

Representative of the Standard Oil Company: The Stand¬ 
ard Oil Company, of Jacksonville, will give him all the information 
he needs. 

Mr. Burgess : The stuff we are using is about 99 per cent pure 
asphalt; it is not an oil at all, you can cut a chunk out of it, and 
throw it around anywhere you please and it won’t run; but now, as 
you see, the granite road wears out, the brick wears out, the steel 
rails on the railroad wear out. If this sand-oil road, this asphalt 
road wears out, w r hy can’t we heat some more asphalt, sprinkle 
some sand over it, heat some more asphalt and sprinkle some more 
sand over it and build up that road and keep it from wearing out? 

Mr. Sohier: That is just what we are doing. 

Mr. Burgess: We have great quantities of sand; if we can 
get some plan by which we can build a road out of sand, we are 
fixed. We don’t have to blast up the sand, we can shovel it out. 

Mr. Sohier: You want to use the coarsest, best sand you have 
in the bank, and if you want to do it cheaply, you want to mix it 
by machine, and the next thing I want to say is this, you cannot 
use any specifications and find them correct on your particular sand, 


226 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


we don’t know enough yet to know why, but we do know that some 
sands apparently, as far as we can tell, the same, mix very nicely 
and come down with 18 gallons of oil, hot, to the cubic yard of sand; 
we use up to 23 on other sands and when you get your road done, 
you want to have your material well mixed so it will pack down and 
won’t be mealy. It ought to tamp out so that it compacts. The rule 
for that is as it was with the tar, spread your sand in a heap and rake 
it and if you’ve got about the right mixture of sand and oil, it will 
continue to crawl for quite a few minutes after you have mixed it 
and it stops right off after you’ve raked it if you have not got enough, 
also when you tamp it or roll it there should be enough asphalt in the 
mixture to make it consolidate pretty well. 

Mr. Burgess: Let me ask one question: I was at a little town 
nearby where I was putting down a small piece of street out of 
this same material and noticed a man that was putting it down; 
he took a little piece of paper and was mixing the sand and oil hot, 
had it hot before he put it together and still kept it in the same 
pot with a fire under it, and he would take out a little of that sand 
every few minutes and look at it on a piece of paper and I thought 
from his examination that he was trying to get it mixed until the 
grains practically become a part of the sand. It was mealy like; 
then he put it down and when he put it down and packed it a little 
it seemed to go together all right. 

Mr. Sohier: What you need is just about 10 per cent more as¬ 
phaltic oil than the voids in the sand as shown by water but we have 
not been able to use very heavy asphalt. We tried to mix sand and 
asphalt with the result that it rolled up like a snow ball—I am speak¬ 
ing of barrel asphalt that melted about 350—and we found that we 
could not use as heavy a material as that and consequently we have 
used the heaviest standard oil, what they call B and without very 
much difference since the Standard Oil Company has given us Mexi¬ 
can oil ; we had some perfectly punk jobs before they gave us Mexi¬ 
can oils. We have used California and Texas oils and got good re¬ 
sults and no doubt any good asphalt will give good results if you 
have the proper sand. 

Mr. Burgess: I understand that the asphalt is just used to 
fill up the void between the sand, and when you get it packed you 
have practically got a sand road? 

Mr. Sohier: Sheet asphalt has only about 10 per cent of asphalt 
in it. The Topeka mix has only about 10 per cent of the bituminous 
material in it as compared to the rest of the material as in the sheet 
asphalt and that is about 18 gallons to the cubic yard, but it swells 
one-seventh with the heat so that it would make 19^ hot. 


DISCUSSION 


227 


Mr. Burgess: The specifications I think we have call for 18 
gallons to a cubic yard of sand. 

Mr. Sohier: I would like to say to any of the other gentlemen 
here that we have some of the best roads I think that are built 
anywhere, that are built by the same method exactly that I have 
been describing, using hot asphaltic oil with gravel, clean sandy 
gravel, grading that gravel and they are very much better than the 
sand roads because we think they will take any amount of travel. 
We use a good clean sharp gravel and they have been down 7 years 
and don’t show a pimple yet. 

A Member: Is the sand on the Boston and Cape Cod road 
marine shell sand? 

Mr. Sohier: It has no shell in it; we tried to get a coarse sand 
and not a fine sand; it is fairly sharp but it really has several sizes 
of sand; we get it out of the bank, don’t take it off the beach. We 
have one place where we could take it off the beach but there it is an 
original sand bank which was originally marine sand but has been 
in the bank a great many years now. It is much sharper than the 
sand on the beach. The success of the road depends on the quality 
of the sand in my opinion. You should try experiments first and 
so find out if the sand and oil will work and what particular sand 
and particular oil will give the best results. Then use that. 

Representative of Standard Oil Company: If our Florida 
friend will write to Watertown, Florida, they have just put down 
that kind of a road there this summer and he will get information 
that will help him. 

Mr. Sohier: I think there was some put down by the Lane 
Construction Company a little south of Tampa this year, also. 

Mr. S wind el: That road you put the oil on was clay, hard sur¬ 
face, it was not sand like we have in Florida. 

Mr. Sohier: It’s just the same, sir, if your sand is coarse and 
sharp. All we use the clay or loam for is just enough in the sub-base 
so that when we spray the oil on and when the oil team goes on to 
the road, it won’t rut it as deep as it used to rut the sand. When 
we sent an oil team over the old sand roads it took four or five horses 
to drag it with the result that when you looked at the road you 
found a whole lot of oil in the rut and a whole lot in each horse’s 
track and got little drop of oil all over the rest of the road. All 
this had to be harrowed and broken up and mixed and rolled back 
to get a road. Now after we have hardened the road we can spray 


228 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


three-quarters of a gallon of oil to the square yard and have it very 
even and I have seen a road with only one coat of oil that stood the 
traffic for quite a little while very nicely. 

Mr. Swindel: Do you have a heater in your tank to heat the 
oil? 

Mr. Sohier: Sometimes, but we usually heat it to 275 in the 
tank car so it spreads about 250 on the road and we also use a pump 
so that we can get on three or four loads a day and in that way save 
quite a lot of money. If you can get good clean sandy gravel so that 
you can use inch and a half stone graded down to clean sharp sand, 
you will get a road that I think will wear as well as asphalt pave¬ 
ments under country traffic. 

A Member: May I ask what is the heaviest steel wire traffic 
that goes over the Cape Cod road? 

Mr. Sohier: The heaviest probably is 3 tons, but there are 
very few of them. The ordinary traffic is the little country traffic 
that farmers and fishermen have around there and most of them 
are single horse wagons. If you will write me, I will send you the 
traffic on that road, exactly what it is. 

Mr. Swindel: We are going to build a quarter of a mile in 
each commissioner’s district in our county, of this asphalt sand 
road and scatter it in different places over the county so that the 
people of the county can see it, and of course it will be built on 
different classes of ground you know and it will be subjected to 
different kinds of traffic and we are going to put in a quarter of a 
mile in each commissioner’s district, just for a test to see how it 
will look. 

Mr. Sohier: Build it 16 or 18 feet wide, otherwise they will 
cut in on it, and crown it one-third of an inch to the foot, only and not 
more—three-quarters of an inch to the foot always makes a rut, 
because every one straddles the crown. 

Mr. Swindel: The clay has been put down and it has rutted 
out, knocked into holes. We thought to level that off and put this 
material on top of that. 

Mr. Sohier: I don’t think you can mix it with any sand that 
has clay in it, 5 per cent clay in the sand will spoil your mix. 

The Chairman: Are there any more questions that you gentle¬ 
men would like to ask? 


DISCUSSION 


229 


A Member: I would like to ask Mr. Sohier what kind of asphalt 
he uses with that gravel road, whether it is a penetration or mixing 
method of surface? 

Mr. Sohier: We have a lot of gravel roads, have had oil sur¬ 
faces on the gravel for some time and they work well. That gravel 
mixed road is put on hot, an inch and a half, stone in the gravel 
about 50 per cent stone down to a 100 mesh sand, and in one case 
where we were using broken stone on the bottom, we used the stone 
dust and considered it rather better than the sand, but we had to 
go up as high as 23 gallons of oil in one pit and 20 gallons in the 
other to get exactly the same mixture, and we use mostly a heavy 
grade of California oil, also some Texas, some Aztec, some Monte¬ 
zuma and some Standard oil right alongside, but just in short sec¬ 
tions to see whether they were or were not what they were sold to 
be. Some are not. By and by we will tell you. 

A Member: Did those oils show any percentage of paraffine? 

Mr. Sohier: No sir. Our specifications do not allow any 
paraffine, but I do think there is quite a difference in oils of the 
same specific gravity, in the way in which they will last without 
crawling at the end of three or four years. I think the cut-back, 
taking the top and bottom and getting the asphalt, is less likely 
to crawl than an oil that is refined down to a certain point, leaving 
the various oils in between the top and the bottom, but I think the 
thing we all know the least about, despite anything the Standard 
oil people or any other oil people will tell you, or anybody else, is 
bitumen, and if you get bitumen that will stick to your finger and 
put a pencil in it and can’t take it off without cutting off the wood, 
you are getting a pretty good bitumen; and if you can wipe it off 
with a paper, you can bet your bottom dollar it is a lubricant and 
not good for road purposes. If it is long and stringy it is good; 
if it will stick to your finger or a pencil it is good, and if it won’t stick 
it is not worth a cent. 

The Chairman: Are there any more questions? We have 
spent a very profitable afternoon and I want to say that I am very 
grateful to you for the interest you have shown. I hope that you 
will all be here promptly at 10 o’clock tomorrow morning. 


230 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


November 12,10 A.M. 

General Wm. T. Rossell in the Chair 

The Chairman: Gentlemen, the meeting will please come to 
order. I have here a notice to be published, that State and Fed¬ 
eral highway officials and ex-officials will meet at 3 p.m. in the 
moving picture room. This does not apply to other than State and 
Federal officials. We have some telegrams that the Secretary will 
read. 

The Secretary: I have here a telegram addressed to the Sec¬ 
retary of the Road Congress which reads as follows: “The United 
Daughters of the Confederacy, 100,000 strong with chapters in 34 
States of the Union, ask that the Great Highway to be projected 
through the South from Richmond to Santiago be named The 
Jefferson-Davis Highway, in which case they pledge their support 
to the same.—Mrs. Walter D. Lamar.” 

We have also another telegram reading as follows: Regret exceed¬ 
ingly unexpected business arrangements prevented my being in 
Atlanta this week,” Mr. Paul D. Sargent, State Highway Engineer 
of Maine. I want also to announce that the annual meeting of 
the American Highway Association for the election of officers and 
for the transaction of such other business as may properly come 
before it, will be held in this room tonight at 8 o’clock. 

The Chairman: The first thing on the program is an address 
by Mr. C. J. Bennett, State Highway Commissioner of Connecticut 
on System in Road Management. 


SYSTEM IN ROAD MANAGEMENT 

Charles J. Bennett 
Highway Commissioner of Connecticut 

In consideration of a topic of this character, it must be realized that 
there are certain principles to be applied in organizing or systematizing 
a highway department, which can be applied generally to the problem 
wherever a department of this character is to be formed. Further 
than that, we cannot go. The particular methods of accounting, the 
minutiae, the forms, types of books, methods of reporting and record¬ 
ing reports are in every instance a peculiar problem to be solved 
locally and in the mpner best fitted to give a solution of the peculiar 
difficulties which arise on account of position and magnitude of the 
department geographically or financially. 

Having in mind, therefore, that the detailed phases of the problem 
are local, there will be no endeavor in this paper to outline an ideal 


SYSTEM IN ROAD MANAGEMENT 


231 


system of accounting, reports and records for a highway department, 
for such a system would apply probably only to that particular de- 
partment with which the writer is more nearly familiar. There will 
be, however, an attempt made to show in a general way, what, in 
the estimation of the writer, are the broad principles which can be 
applied to systematic management of a highway department, whether 
it be town, city or state. 

In the first place, it is necessary to realize that there are two results 
to be secured: 

First, the proper and economical spending of a certain amount of 
money in the way best fitted to serve the general public, and 

Second, the presentation of the method of spending this money to 
the public, so that it may be thoroughly informed as to how its money 
has been apportioned and what results have been reached. Such a 
record or report made to the public should be in simple language so 
that the most uninformed may understand the results desired and the 
ends achieved. 

In connection with the first proposition, i.e., the spending of 
money to get the best results. The first requisite in organizing a 
system of this kind is the record or system of bookkeeping which 
should show at all times, the condition of the accounts and keep a 
check on the expenditures made for specific purposes. Such a sys¬ 
tem should be simple and familiar to all the employees of the depart¬ 
ment and should show graphically, at a glance, the amount of the 
appropriations made for specific purposes and a summary of the defin¬ 
ite projects on which this money should be expended with the total 
weekly or monthly expenditures for the purposes defined. This 
information should be available to all the employees and should be 
so plain as to make it possible for a change in the personnel of the 
office force without a consequent confusion arising from a compli¬ 
cated and abstruse system of accounts. 

In connection with this system of bookkeeping and system of 
reports of work necessary, the orders for the work to be done should 
be immediately compiled and entered in the books so that the dis¬ 
bursements may be kept up to date. There should be no possibility 
of verbal orders which would call for expenditures of money without 
an accompanying written report and order, which should be entered 
at once in the ledger. This system of accounts should provide also 
for a periodic statement of the financial condition of the department, 
which statement or balance should show not only the cash available, 
but also the actual amount available after all the liabilities, bills and 
debts of the department were paid. 

Having formulated such a system of accounting, a force of em¬ 
ployees should be organized in such a manner that the system of 
accounts may be followed and in such a way also that the general 
idea of spending the money economically and well be firmly estab¬ 
lished. 

The first idea which should be applied in the organization of a 


232 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


highway department is the military system, that is, the depart¬ 
ment should be subdivided so that each part might have certain 
duties with a definite amount of money to spend. Each subdi¬ 
vision should report directly to the superior officer and through 
this superior officer to the military head. The organization should 
be such that no orders should be passed around a subordinate, 
but should rather go through a subordinate. It is quite necessary 
in dealing with a force of any magnitude that the rank and file should 
know the purpose of the organization and the washes of the chief. 
In other words, the department should be imbued with the spirit 
and aims of the man at the head, for in this way each man will work, 
so far as is possible, along the same lines and the results gained will 
be more nearly uniform and standard. 

An effort should be made to build up patriotism in the department, 
which should work for the betterment of the road system rather than 
for the personal benefit of the employees or of the political party 
which is responsible for the appointment of members of the depart¬ 
ment. A modified civil service system is a good thing, in that it 
makes the men more sure of their positions than under a political 
system. Such a civil service should, however, provide for the re¬ 
moval of employees by the head of the department without applying 
to any outside body, such as a State or Municipal Civil Service Com¬ 
mission. The whole idea of such a department and the organization 
of the force, should be to secure the right men for the right places and 
keep them there while they give good service. There is nothing 
which can disorganize a department so much as the right of an em¬ 
ployee to apply to some outside body which has no knowledge of 
conditions and which can only judge of a man’s ability or his right 
to hold a position, by an examination on his technical knowledge or 
by a brief hearing. The measure of a man’s value is in the results 
he gains in actual service and knowledge of a man’s ability can only 
be secured by the record of his achievements from day to day. 

In the organization of a force, a chart should be prepared showing 
the connection between employees, showing to whom an employee 
should report and stating distinctly what his duties shall be. The 
best results are to be gained by delegating authority to a man and plac¬ 
ing confidence in him, having in mind the theory that men are by 
nature honest and will endeavor to do right and gain good results if 
given the opportunity. Allowance should be made for honest mis¬ 
takes and a careful record kept of such mistakes so that a man may 
realize, when removed, that the reasons for his removal are sound and 
based on results showing his lack of ability. 

In selecting employees to deal with the public, men should be sought 
who are tactful, intelligent and polite in their intercourse with people. 
The employee should be instructed that at all times it is necessary 
for him to be fair and reasonable and to keep his temper. A public 
employee is a servant of the public and in his dealings with citizens, 


SYSTEM IN ROAD MANAGEMENT 


233 


should realize this fact, but he should also be firm and not afraid 
to refuse an unreasonable request. 

Given then a system of accounting in the organization, the mem¬ 
bers of this organization must bear in mind that if they are kept in¬ 
formed as to the purpose of the department in which they work, 
they should on their part, keep their superiors well informed of their 
own movements, the amount of work done and the character and cost 
thereof. In other words, a method of reporting work should be es¬ 
tablished and kept which should give plainly and simply, all the neces¬ 
sary information as to the actual physical operations carried on by 
the employees. The local situation will govern the extent and fre¬ 
quency of such reports but they should show primarily and in a clear 
way, the work which the employee is trying to do, the probable cost 
of the work to be done before it is started, and from time to time the 
actual cost; including remarks as to the success or failure of any partic¬ 
ular experiment. There should not be an endeavor to make compli¬ 
cated reports which should show minutiae to the point of the ludicrous, 
for a system of reporting which becomes so complicated that it is not 
simple of understanding, fails utterly in its purpose. 

The recording of reports in connection with the accounting system 
should be made in such a manner that through these records the out¬ 
sider, either layman or professional, may secure information as to 
the comparative cost of certain classes of work, the success or failure 
of certain types of roads and the financial value of expenditures for 
certain specific purposes. For instance, it might be possible to 
demonstrate in a certain instance, by a system of records that a larger 
first cost of construction would be very much more economical even¬ 
tually than a small first cost with a corresponding large charge for 
maintenance in future years. The system of records should, there¬ 
fore, show the ultimate result from an expenditure, which ultimate 
result should be gained from records made over a long term. 

The above discussion has covered mainly the first principle, which 
was stated, namely, the endeavor to get good work with the money 
appropriated. 

A road department has, however, the duty of presenting its opera¬ 
tions to the public eye, not only as results on the roads themselves, 
but in the success or failure of the department as a financial proposi¬ 
tion. This presentation must be made in the form of a periodical 
report to some superior body, as the mayor of a city or the legisla¬ 
ture of a State. The writer finds, in perusing many of the reports 
made, that there is an entire lack of system in presenting the informa¬ 
tion, and no effort made to make the report clear. Most reports 
are made in such a manner that an expert accountant would be 
needed to find out results gained and even then, these results would be 
of little value. The spirit shown most in reports is that they claim 
general excellence for the department and try to justify its continu¬ 
ance. Certainly there are some failures made by roadbuilders, which 


234 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


should be reported for the good of the work. Reasons for failure 
should be stated, whether the failures be financial or physical. 

It is quite possible and necessary to make an annual report which 
is readable and interesting to the layman. The text portion of such 
a report should be written in plain English without technical terms 
and with general results stated broadly and succinctly. Tabulation 
of records should be made as simply as possible and the cost per unit 
should give, not only definite figures, but should state furthermore, just 
what details were included in the units of work done. For instance, in 
one locality maintenance of roads does not include the oiling of the 
surface, while in other reports, this oiling is included, which, of course, 
makes it impossible to compare the two costs, and for this reason, 
and many others, as stated above, the reports should show definitely 
what details are included under each heading, and the cost might be 
analyzed accordingly. 

The above is designed to open up a general discussion on the value 
of system in road management. 

The writer wishes to make clear again that there is no question in 
his mind that the system should be simple and operative rather than 
complicated and unwieldly. The simpler the method of bookkeeping, 
organization, reporting and recording, the more successful will be 
the results in spending the money economically and well and the more 
successful will be the opportunity of the official at the head to present 
his information so that it will be of benefit first, to the general public, 
and, second, to the profession of which he is a member. 

The Chairman: Mr. Paul D. Sargent was to have opened the 
the discussion on this paper, but as he is absent, the subject is open 
for general discussion. 

Mr. T. Hugh Boorman (of New York): I trust that all our 
meetings will have some practical result. I believe in work and 
not too much wind. There is one most important feature in Mr. 
Bennett’s address which every man here and every association con¬ 
nected with us should endeavor to have carried out and that is the 
most necessary method of conducting the business of the Highway 
Bureaus, of positively discharging any employee who is not worthy 
of filling his position. I go back to the time of our worthy chair¬ 
man’s predecessor, General Newman. When he came to New York 
we were inflicted, as another gentleman of the corps, General Ben- 
ham, was inflicted, with these awful civil service employees. General 
Benham threw up his job because he had such a lot of utterly indif¬ 
ferent, inefficient men whom he had to employ. Now we should 
in every way endeavor to get ordinances or laws that the adminis¬ 
tration of the Bureau of Highways should be positively in the hands 
of one chief without any recourse whatever. Any man decided by 
that chief to be inefficient should be instantly discharged. You had 


DISCUSSION 


235 


occasion recently in Philadelphia, in regard to licensing of engineers, 
to bring forward that statement, but while we believe to a certain 
extent in civil service, we suffer more from it than from any other 
source. 

Mr. King (of Memphis, Tenn.): This is a part of the program, 
gentlemen, that I am very much interested in. We have in Shelby 
County, Tennessee, a commission form of government, as well as 
that form for the city, and I happen to be connected with the county 
government as chairman of that commission. We had some old 
method of conducting the public funds and it took us quite a good 
while to get rid of that system and I find, as an economic proposition 
that there is nothing so very advantageous to the management of 
your public funds and bridge building and road building as a public 
system of accounting, as well as a perfect system of purchasing. 
Everybody had been purchasing, even down to the lowest man in 
the employ of the county, whatever he needed, but that is not so 
now. One man who was handed down to me for political reasons, 
when I said to him—at the head of the bridge department—“You 
must come through my office for everything you want,” got mad and 
said, “I have lived in this city all my life and in this county, and I 
never had to get an order for anything in my life; my word has 
always been taken.” I said to him, “You can either adopt this 
system or quit.” The result is that in the bridge department we 
have saved 47 per cent in one year’s time by having a perfect sys¬ 
tem for purchasing. We have a road department and on my desk 
every morning there is a card from the foreman of every bridge 
crew, a card from the foreman of every dirt road crew, a card from 
the foreman of every turnpike crew, stating exactly what work was 
done the day before. For instance, if it is a bridge crew, they 
state exactly the bridge that was being repaired or rebuilt, where 
the lumber came from, how much old lumber was used and how 
much was thrown away, and from the dirt road department, how 
many miles of road work the day before, or fractional parts of a 
mile, were constructed, how many men employed and how many 
mules were in commission and how many out of commission, and 
from the turnpike department, the same way; so on my desk every 
morning I have a report from every man and at the end of the month 
I can tell whether one man in the dirt road department is costing 
me more than for other crews of like character and like equipment; 
I can tell the same way in the bridge department what it costs per 
foot or per hundred feet to work that lumber; so then it is an abso¬ 
lute system and that system is reducing the cost of repairing and 
building in that county from 25 per cent to 47 per cent. So gentle¬ 
men, there is not anything that so concerns us and the taxpayers 
of this country, there is not anything so pleasing to the taxpayers 
as the very question that the gentleman has been discussing and I 
think we need to study it and get a system all over this country 
that shall be workable and plain, that the people may understand. 


236 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


Mr. J. W. Barnett: The gentleman has just outlined in a 
very clear and interesting manner his method of record keeping, 
cost keeping; he stated that before any supplies could be purchased 
that orders would have to be issued. I would like very much to 
have him explain to us his method of purchasing supplies, whether 
through a purchasing agent or whether it is done through the chair¬ 
man of the commission; that to me is a very interesting point. 

Mr. King: I do the purchasing myself, as chairman of that 
commission. Every dollar’s worth of goods of the county, amount¬ 
ing to $7000 or $8000 a year, I purchase myself. 

Mr. E. P. Bala (of Atlanta, Ga.): Order is the first law of 
nature. God in making the world had a plan. Everything must 
have its plan to reach perfection. In road building as in everything 
else, there must be system. If you want a road, the first question 
is, is it a public utility? Is there traffic enough to justify that road? 
How is it to be built between two points, and you must get a doctor. 
An engineer is a doctor of highway roads. You must employ a 
competent engineer. He must go over the road carefully in a pre¬ 
liminary survey. If I was going to build a railroad or a highway 
from Atlanta to Macon I would want to know the difference of 
elevation between those two points; I don’t want to crawl up higher 
than Atlanta a dozen times. In going from Atlanta to Macon 
I want to go by a uniform down grade because Macon is lower than 
Atlanta. The location of a road is an important consideration; 
you don’t want to sacrifice grade to curvature or curvature to grade, 
but you want to find out which way the main traffic will go when 
this road is built, and want to build with reference to grades, and the 
way the traffic is moving. You want to put as few curves as possible 
and get as near an airline as possible and put no heavy grades upon 
this road. If you put curves, pursue the same policy the railroads 
do, make circle curves going from a tangent to an easy curve or a 
little higher, and then to the body of the curve, and all in the same 
way. Another thing, you want to prepare to procure the right of 
way before you strike a lick in excavation, you want to be sure that 
you get a wide enough right of way for all the purposes that road will 
be put to, put it a little wider than the present necessities call for, 
give it ample room, and whenever you strike a curve you should 
have the right of the property from each end of the curve and clear 
that right of all trees to give access to sight; put no dead men’s 
curves on it. Then again, after your location is made, be sure you 
get an engineer that is capable of carrying out the instructions on 
this road, give him some limit, give him the idea of thought; don’t 
grind him down by conventionalities. I was once called upon to 
locate a line from Chicago Junction to Chicago. My instructions 
were the simplest ever had—“as near an airline as possible, pay no 
attention to towns, we are building it for a freight line.” Those 


PROBLEMS OF STREET CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE 237 


were simple instructions. The engineer was on his mettle and we 
got 271 miles out of 269, all roads crossing either under or above, 
for safety. It’s the same way with our roads here; when you hit 
a railroad, if possible, go under or go above. Then the next ques¬ 
tion in road building is the surface; get a good cross section and 
maintain it, and if your traffic is very heavy, put on the best ma¬ 
terial you can find, using economy; and again you want to keep 
that surface up to its original character. If a sharp tired wagon 
goes over it and cuts it, you want to be there the next moment 
and repair it. If it makes a hole, the next wagon that comes along 
hammers it deeper and so on; heavy traffic comes along and makes 
a terrible hole, one that is dangerous to the public. Then again 
you want to have system in everything, system in keeping accounts, 
system and ahead to every department. This thing of every man 
being a head is all wrong; there must be one head. A man that 
cannot do his duty under any circumstances does not deserve the 
position that he holds. 

The Chairman: I received this notice: 

The following resolutions were unanimously adopted by the 
Georgia Women’s Suffrage League, Mrs. Francis Smith Whiteside, 
President, at their meeting Wednesday afternoon: 

Resolved , That the Georgia Women’s Suffrage League heartily endorses 
the movement of the American Highway Association for good roads in Georgia 
and that the League stands ready to cooperate with the movement in all their 
undertakings. 

Next on the program list is a paper on “Street Construction and 
Maintenance,” by Henry W. Durham, Chief Engineer of Highways, 
Manhattan, New York. 

SOME PROBLEMS OF STREET CONSTRUCTION AND 
MAINTENANCE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

Henry Welles Durham 

Chief Engineer of Highways , Manhattan, New York City 

When recently the invitation was received by me to discuss the 
subject of street construction and maintenance, it seemed like 
asking for the writing of a cyclopoedia in two weeks. Most books 
bearing this title are at best merely superficial and all that can 
be said in a few minutes, is to touch on a few points which may have 
a passing interest to those, who like the speaker find the attempt to 
satisfy public demands, always hampered by a general public igno¬ 
rance even among those considered well informed, as to what is the best 
or the standard practice in other communities than their own, as well 
as to why many conditions about which complaint is made, cannot be 
immediately changed. 


238 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


It must be recognized that the problems of our largest city as a 
whole, are not always those of others of a lesser size, but usually 
some of its subdivisions can be found to parallel almost any other 
municipality, the Metropolitan District having grown by the con¬ 
solidation of former distinct units varying from villages to large 
cities, many of which still continue their individual characters. 

Any tendency on the part of the speaker attributable to the 
alleged insularity of New York, may possibly have been modified by 
beginning his paving career as engineer of our oldest American city, 
Panama, and by a course of investigation of municipal paving con¬ 
ditions, both in European cities and in those of our country. 

Some years since, in a report made by a citizens’ committee on 
New York pavements, expression was given to a popular idea which 
still prevails that the pavements of the City of New York are, 
and probably always have been, very inferior to those of first-class 
cities of the old world. As the facilitation of public communica¬ 
tion by its highways gives as good a measure as is possible of the 
prosperity of a community, a short statement of some European and 
American street problems and the methods of solution employed, 
will be of more interest than purely local statistics, even though 
now progress in the cities of the former continent, may be temporarily 
interrupted; because the duration of that interruption and its ulti¬ 
mate result may, to a great extent, depend on the degree of per¬ 
fection attained in highway communication in the various countries 
involved. 

The work of pavement maintenance abroad, has been largely 
dropped for the present as is witnessed by a recent communication 
from the director of the French Mission of Engineers to the United 
States of America, now in Paris, who writes me regarding his ina¬ 
bility to furnish certain data which had previously been requested, 
due to the fact that he “is becoming more and more busy in quite 
different lines.” This censored bulletin seems to indicate that the 
famous corps of Engineers of Bridges and Highways is not at present 
occupied with its ordinary civilian problems. 

The statement may be axiomatic, but it still seems to require 
reassertion that though road construction and maintenance have 
been from the earliest times to the present of primary importance 
to all countries that have attained important rank, they have radi¬ 
cally altered in .conditions in the past quarter century due princi¬ 
pally to two causes: the first of which is the motor vehicle; and the 
second (in so far as relates to the problem of municipalities) the 
increasing importance of utilizing the space immediately beneath 
the surface of the streets for public utilities. These are required 
to an extent increasing as rapidly as the density of population in 
working, trade and residence centers, which involve a demand for 
the distribution of power as well as for means of communication 
and transportation requiring large installations of lines for telegraph, 
telephone, water supply, gas, sewers and rapid transit railroads. 


PROBLEMS OF STREET CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE 239 


City streets developed from first being that portion of a highway 
between built-up rows of houses and the adjacent communicating 
spaces between outlying buildings, and were gradually, after many 
centuries, elaborated by the separation of pedestrians from vehicular 
traffic. Up to the middle of the past century a pavement, consist¬ 
ing of stone blocks laid directly on the ground surface of the street, 
was considered satisfactory in all cities of Europe and in the older 
cities of this country. At the present time such a surface is used in 
a great part of the streets in every important European city. 

An essential difference between our cities and those of Europe lies 
in the fact that, due to our broad growth, our streets are to a very 
large extent on regraded ground, whereas in many of the older cities 
of Europe the streets have occupied their present location for hun¬ 
dreds of years, have been only to a slight extent excavated and re¬ 
filled, and furnish a durable unyielding foundation for the paved 
surface. It is safe to say that not 10 per cent of the area of streets 
of the great cities of Europe are paved on a concrete foundation, 
a notable case in point being the city of Hamburg where some of the 
finest stone pavements in the world, having flat heads and close 
fitting joints, are laid directly on a sand foundation, and Paris, which 
has i^th of its stone streets on concrete. But whereas most European 
streets of whatever type have a permanent surface suitable to the 
existing conditions, those in our cities not yet provided with a con¬ 
crete base are largely of a temporary and unsatisfactory nature, await¬ 
ing permanent improvement. 

For new pavements in important thoroughfares concrete foun¬ 
dations are regarded as essential by engineers on both sides of the 
ocean. As to the requisite thickness and proportioning of the 
concrete there are as many practices followed as there are cities. 
The minimum thickness abroad, and a figure which corresponds to 
that of many of our important towns, is 4 inches. This, up to July 
of this year, was regarded as adequate in Brussels for the traffic 
previously contemplated. Probably the average abroad is about 6 
inches. Berlin and Paris have foundations running from 6 to 8 inches 
as do Liverpool and Birmingham, while London goes to a maximum 
of 12 inches on its main streets founded on an alluvial soil. 

Its composition in different places varies between wide limits. 
A cheap and easy form of criticism occasionally indulged in by 
those well enough informed to know better, is to direct public com¬ 
plaint against some specified case of foundation concrete work in 
New York, often based on the authority of some eminent engineer 
(name not given) who observed the work on his way through the 
street and stated that the amount of cement employed was inade¬ 
quate and the materials not properly mixed to produce a durable 
foundation. On such criticisms argument has been based that the 
proportioning of such concrete in Manhattan at the ratio of one of 
cement to three of sand and six of stone or gravel does not produce a 
strong enough mixture. 


240 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


For purposes of comparison the following table shows some of the 
varying proportions abroad: 


Cement 

London: 

City and Westminster 

Lewisham. 

Battersea. 

Liverpool. 

Paris. 

Berlin and Charlotten- 

burg. 

Hamburg. 

Vienna. 


Fine Aggregate Coarse Aggregate 

1 . 6 Thames ballast—unscreened 

river gravel 

1 . 7 Thames ballast—unscreened 

river gravel 

1 3 sand 5 clean gravel 

1 6 crushed slag 3 broken stone, 3-inch gauge 
1 3f sand 1\ stone or gravel 

1 . 8 fine gravel and sand 

1 . 7 unscreened river gravel 

1 3 sand 5 gravel 


First quality cement is the same on both sides of the ocean, but 
it should be noted that, except in the best work, in the continental 
cities the contractor is usually permitted to use on streets of second¬ 
ary importance a slag cement of inferior grade and in some cases a 
lime mortar, so that the concrete would be of much less strength than 
the proportions indicate. It is frequently constructed of bank 
gravel, no separate measurement of sand and gravel being made, 
but the proportion of cement added to the run of the bank. Often 
the old macadam road material is used, when a street is repaved with 
an impervious surface, to furnish the material for concrete, it being 
screened at the side and mixed with cement and sand. 

Work of concrete mixing is done almost entirely by hand, al¬ 
though machinery has been introduced in Germany to a small extent. 
The subfoundation is rough graded with about the same accuracy 
prevalent in New York, but it is more usual to finish the concrete sur¬ 
face smooth. It is commonly laid between forms set transversely 
to the axis of the street at intervals of about 15 feet, materials being 
turned over on a mixing board between these forms directly into 
place. Final finish to the surface is then obtained by drawing a 
straight-edge across the width of the street, the concrete being laid 
mixed wet enough so that finer material flushes to the surface and 
produces a fairly smooth finish under the straight-edge. Where this 
method is not followed, the forms are placed longitudinally and a 
finish obtained by drawing along them a template formed to the 
proper transverse section. Where wood pavement is to be laid, 
particular attention is given to obtaining an accurate smooth surface 
and a certain amount of hand-smoothing is sometimes employed; 
but it was noted in London and in other cities that by employing 
the method of accurately setting transverse strips to the surface 
grade on narrow widths of concrete and then drawing a straight¬ 
edge or a screed along on these adjacent strips, between which the 
work of mixing and placing was being carried on, a sufficiently 
smooth surface was obtained with very little subsequent plastering. 
For asphalt and granite it is not attempted to obtain such smooth 













PROBLEMS OF STREET CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE 241 

results, but usually a more accurate surface results on all classes of 
work than with us, though it is at the sacrifice of speed. The quality 
of the concrete is not superior to that now being produced in this 
country. 

In summary it may be said that Europe presents to us no solution 
of the pavement foundation problem different from or better than 
those known in this country, and that there is substantial accord in 
all important cities about the present-day necessity of concrete 
foundations for durable pavements. 

A most difficult problem confronting the highway engineer today 
in city work is to make a correct decision as to a suitable form of 
wearing surface to be adopted, one that shall if possible combine the 
very contradictory qualities demanded by the different interests 
involved. Horsedrawn trucking interests, which are still with us 
to a great extent, desire a surface which shall furnish a good foot¬ 
hold for animals in addition to giving good traction for wheels; the 
occupants of adjacent buildings desire absence of noise and cleanli¬ 
ness; while the necessities for access to subsurface structures require 
the possibilities of frequent opening and easy restoration to a con¬ 
dition substantially as good as the original; further, the taxpayer 
demands a form of construction that shall combine a minimum of 
original cost and subsequent maintenance with a maximum of dura¬ 
bility; and the general critic calls for the discovery of some hitherto 
unknown perfect type and refers us to the great cities of Europe in 
which, as he knows from personal observation during the few hours 
he spent in each and on the few blocks which he visited, the pave¬ 
ments are perfect, repairs never required, openings made during the 
night and restored before morning—all at practically no expense 
to the taxpayer. 

Investigation does not bear out these claims, nor unfortunately 
does it discover the desired solution. The municipal highway en¬ 
gineer everywhere abroad, as in this country, is trying to satisfy the 
same conditions with the same limited success. The best to be said 
is that general experience has reduced to a very few classes the num¬ 
ber of desirable wearing surfaces for city streets, and the selection of 
the most suitable for each particular case is usually arrived at by a 
process of elimination, taking the one that presents the fewest draw¬ 
backs. 

The original street pavement, and that which is used over more 
than half the area of all city streets in Europe at the present time, 
is some class of stone block, ranging in quality from the rough cobble¬ 
stone pavement which has been generally discarded in our cities 
but which is still very prevalent abroad, through various grades of 
squared block to one laid with hand-dressed blocks with joints of less 
than } inch and heads absolutely plain, found to a very limited ex¬ 
tent in such cities as London, Liverpool and Birmingham and cost¬ 
ing from $5 to $10 per square yard. 

The most frequently used type at the present time in the cities of 


242 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


Central Europe is that known as the Belgian block from its prev¬ 
alence in that country—a type superseded with us; but when laid 
with the greater care usually found abroad and on streets little sub¬ 
ject to excavation, quite satisfactory though noisy. These blocks 
are generally laid without foundation, with joints not exceeding 
one inch in width and a surface much smoother than that of our 
poorer type of similarly paved streets. 

Another variation of this class is the type of large slab block 
pavement employed in Italy and, to some extent, in Austria, composed 
of stones measuring sometimes as much as 18x24 inches on the 
top with a depth of about 6 inches, laid with close-fitting joints 
and combining wearing surface with foundations. Such pave¬ 
ments, while extremely slippery even when the upper surface of the 
block is grooved, seem to give entire satisfaction in the cities where 
they exist. The material employed for the block is, as with us, either 
a trap rock or a granite presenting varying degrees of hardness in 
accordance with the material available for the locality in question. 
Only in exceptional cases is there any attempt made to classify the 
stone according to hardness for use on grades of various steepness. 

The latest improvement in stone paved streets, and one occurring 
simultaneously on both sides of the ocean, is the reduction of the 
depth of the blocks over a concrete foundation to a dimension not 
exceeding 5 or 6 inches, and the use of accurately cut square-fitting 
stones laid over the foundation in a cushion of minimum thickness 
in virtual contact, so that when the joints are solidly filled with either 
a cement grout or some bituminous material they shall present no 
edges to wear round and produce an irregular noisy surface under 
traffic. 

In most European city streets where none of the above kinds of 
stone pavement prevail, some form of macadam or Telford roadway 
is used, either the old water-bound surface or, in the more modern 
construction, with the addition of a bituminous filler. 

Finally, on a limited proportion of the better class streets, and 
these are in the area commonly seen by the tourist, there are found 
the quiet and smooth surfaces—sheet rock asphalt and, to a lesser 
extent, soft or hard wood block. 

Making a comparison with those of our American cities which have 
devoted much attention to modern repaving in recent years, it would 
seem as if the above classification should be reversed both as to 
quantity and quality; but it is based on accurate figures for the 
leading countries of Europe. A tabulation of the relative quanti¬ 
ties of different classes of pavement in the first seventy-six cities of 
Germany shows this to be the case. The list includes all cities hav¬ 
ing a population of 50,000 and upward or an aggregate of more than 
15,000,000, which is nearly one-fourth of the entire country. They 
have a total area of paved carriageway of approximately 110,000,000 
square yards divided as follows: 


PROBLEMS OF STREET CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE 243 


Stone block, all classes. 60,000,000 

Macadam, telford, gravel or earth. 35,000’000 

Asphalt. . 9,000,000 

Slag block. 2,000,000 

Woodblock. 1,000,000 

Small cube stone. 2,000,000 

Miscellaneous. 2,000,000 


Total. 111,000,000 


That is, more than 50 per cent is stone block and 86 per cent 
either stone block, some form of crushed stone or dirt, leaving 14 
per cent to divide among all other types. Of this remainder nearly 
two-thirds are sheet asphalt, and all other kinds occur in only rela¬ 
tively small quantities. These figures are from the official report 
of 1912 and consequently subject to slight revision, but show sub¬ 
stantially the relative importance attached on the continent of 
Europe to the various classes of pavement surface. A statement 
of these facts does not in any way detract from a recognition of the 
large extent of elsewhere unequalled wood surfaced streets in London, 
nor of the very fine asphalt pavements in the newer parts of Berlin and 
on the boulevards of Paris and Vienna. Citizens of none of our lead¬ 
ing American cities would be contented to have in a residential street 
macadam and stone block, to the extent to which they prevail abroad; 
and, consequently, lessons drawn from foreign practice are value¬ 
less to us in this respect, while we have already learned to construct 
stone and asphalt pavements of a quality equal to their best. 

The selection of the types of pavement to be adopted in a great 
city, while limited in a large degree to the three classes referred to, 
can not be laid down in any set of rules whose observation will lead 
to the satisfaction of any community. Local climatic conditions, 
economically available sources of supply, as well as the relation to 
each other of the different localities for commerce, manufacture and 
residence and, finally, the financial resources of each city must all 
exercise too great an influence to make the practice of one valuable 
as more than a general example for another. 

With regard to noise, more attention is paid to this question in 
city streets than previously, and the old type of wide joint stone 
pavement has been completely ruled out. On our modern granite 
streets such noise has been very measurably reduced. Motor ve¬ 
hicles are as quiet- on them as on asphalt or wood, but there is inevi¬ 
tably a certain amount of rumbling from steel tires and horses’ hoofs, 
and if the most noiseless surface is desired wood must be adopted. 
In view of its greater life, however, and consequent ultimate economy, 
its lessened slipperiness and almost equal ease for maintaining in a 
clean condition, the lessened amount of repairs required and the 
fact that it is the only surface in which street openings can be re¬ 
stored to a condition equal to the original, modern smooth-dressed 
close-fitting granite pavement on a concrete foundation, its joints 
filled with bituminous material, has been decided to be most satis- 











244 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


factory for those streets in the borough of Manhattan having the 
heaviest traffic where the general city noises from surface and ele¬ 
vated railroads and the other sources of disturbance of a city render 
any condition attributable to variations in the type of pavement 
negligible. > . 

For a fairly heavy and dense traffic in wide street subject to infre¬ 
quent cuts and having a level surface or only moderate grade, there 
is no question but wood pavements can be laid that are eminently 
satisfactory. They require the most careful attention for main¬ 
tenance and perhaps vary in quality between greater extremes than 
any other type. Nothing finer in the world in pavement surface 
exists than can be seen in London on the Mall from the Admiralty 
Arch to Buckingham Palace, a street that is subject to a fairly dense 
pleasure traffic, or on Whitehall, the Strand, Piccadilly, or many 
other of the adjacent streets in the heart of Westminster. On the 
other hand, some of the worst wood surfaces encountered in any 
city can be found within two or three miles of those just referred to, 
illustrating very clearly the absolute necessity of constant attention 
for maintenance and the selection of the best class of wood and 
workmanship for this type of construction. 

For the combination of economy, cleanliness, absence from much 
noise and satisfactory surface for the general city traffic in the 
residence district, nothing has been developed better than the modern 
asphalt pavement. It has been adopted on a majority of the streets 
in New York City. While many miles of inferior pavement of this 
type have been laid there, all of a period long past, they are as rap¬ 
idly as possible being superseded with a modern type of construc¬ 
tion on a concrete foundation, which promises much greater dura¬ 
bility and ease of maintenance. The relative lesser amount of this 
surface in European cities is very largely due to the fact that we have 
had no good pavements on any but a few streets in each city up to 
very recently; whereas it has been the practice abroad for many 
years to construct good macadam surfaces in all residence districts. 
At the present time foreign cities are following our custom of laying 
this class of pavement on new light traffic streets, and in the large 
real estate developments around Berlin asphalt was adopted almost 
exclusively. The cities of Paris and Vienna last year made con¬ 
tracts for extensive repaving with asphalt, which was being sub¬ 
stituted in Vienna for the old stone surfacing of the Boulevard; while 
Paris was tearing out many miles of stone block, inferior wood and 
macadam and relaying with asphalt. This work will undoubtedly 
be resumed in all these cities when it is again possible to devote 
attention to rebuilding. 

Much more difficult in our country than the writing of specifica¬ 
tions appears to be the securing of the desired result. A strong 
difference seems to exist between our practice and that of Europe 
in this matter. A careful comparison of foreign methods with ours 
brings out very strongly the greater care given by us to the prepa- 


PROBLEMS OF STREET CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE 245 

ration of exact specifications and the greater attention given by 
them to the producing of the result for which the specifications were 
written. It would seem as if some of our city engineers thought 
that the whole aim of their office had been attained when they had 
succeeded down to the last period in describing chemical and physi¬ 
cal qualities of the materials to be used and the exact details to be 
followed; just as in our country we have too great a tendency to re¬ 
gard our record file and office systems as ultimate ends. The 
specifications used in such important cities as London, Birming¬ 
ham, Liverpool, Hamburg and Berlin, and even in Paris where the 
most attention is given to detail of any city in Europe, seem notice¬ 
ably weak in contrast to ours and to leave much to the honesty of 
the contractor. Whereas when it comes to the execution of the work 
the attitudes are reversed, and the European engineer and contractor 
seem to work in harmony with but one end in view, namely, the con¬ 
struction of the particular piece of work called for at the price agreed 
upon. A recognition of the difference of national traits furnishes 
no indication of how to change them, except as pointing out the 
direction in which almost all of our cities can obtain better work, 
that is, in the line of closer inspection of materials and workman¬ 
ship of construction. It is a problem that is worthy the attention 
of many men who may have a tendency to regard anything but the 
scientific end of engineering construction as beneath their dignity. 

Even when his pavement is constructed in the best manner the 
engineer in charge of city highways has merely solved his prelimi¬ 
nary problems and has remaining his real task of keeping the pave¬ 
ment down. Part of the solution of this question can be taken up 
after construction in the installation of an adequate system of keeping 
track of street defects and openings and the prevention of the latter 
by proper restriction on the issuance of permits and careful inspec¬ 
tion of the work done under them; but the real method of con¬ 
trolling street openings so as to reduce them to a minimum is in the 
hands of the city planners and it is beyond the power of those charged 
with street maintenance to do more than regulate it to the best of 
their ability. It is in this line that the observer finds European 
superiority most apparent. He sees nothing in engineering con¬ 
struction problems as a whole done better abroad than here but 
does find European municipal governments taking charge of and 
regulating in an orderly manner first, the planning and laying out 
of street developments and then the installation in them, beneath 
the surface, of the necessary public utilities, so that when once con¬ 
structed the street shall be as nearly permanent as possible. The 
chaotic condition of subsurface pipes beneath the streets in our 
great cities is notorious, but it is no argument except to those afraid 
to undertake any change to say that it must continue because it 
has always been that way. We must arrange in our new streets, in 
entirety and in our older ones by changing whenever the opportunity 
occurs to provide beneath the sidewalks or footways for the installa- 


246 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


tion of all necessary house service lines, leaving the space beneath 
the roadway for main sewers, passenger subways and the large water 
and gas mains, thus eliminating as much as possible our most fre¬ 
quent cause of street opening for the giving of additional house 
service to private parties. 

In the office of the City Engineer of the city of Hamburg is a 
set of drawings showing standard sections officially adopted for all 
city streets of whatever width and on each is specified in its vertical 
and horizontal relation to curb and house line the position of each 
class of pipe and even the position of the trees and their longitudinal 
spacing are standardized. For the improvement of the worst of 
our old streets we can follow the example of London, which has 
constructed some six miles of pipe galleries in which are placed 
electric light and telephone wires and minor gas service lines. The 
installation of pipe galleries to any great extent is an almost prohibi¬ 
tive expense, but it is not impossible as a solution of the trouble in 
our densest streets, and by adopting the principle of utilizing the 
space beneath our footways, instead of presenting them for a nomi¬ 
nal consideration to private parties, a great ultimate saving will be 
caused. Subsidewalk vaults need not be entirely eliminated for 
this, as a depth of only a few feet below the surface is required for 
the necessary pipes and wires; but our cities should not give up im¬ 
portant space in their crowded streets merely to provide illumination 
by means of sidewalk dead-lights to the basement of adjacent build¬ 
ings. It must be recognized, however, that the idea that only 
in this country do we make frequent street openings is a mistake. 

No system can provide for all the necessities arising from future 
development, and only in a city which has ceased to grow would it 
be possible to conceal all evidences of construction. A careful 
observation shows in every great city of Europe conditions paral¬ 
leling many of those complained of in our streets, particularly in re¬ 
gard to the extent to which the building constructor is allowed to 
use the public thoroughfare for his private purposes, even on such 
famous thoroughfares as Unter den Linden, the Champs Elysees 
and Regent Street; while it is of particular interest to call attention 
to the comparison in the number of street openings between the 
borough of Manhattan of New York City having a total mileage of 
streets of 455 and the city of Westminster, London, with 100 miles 
of street. The average annual number of permits granted for street 
openings in the former is about 25,000; in the latter, 20,000; and 
though it is undoubtedly true that the superficial extent of our 
excavations in New York is by far the greater, yet the figures indi¬ 
cate that even in the greatest city of the world there has been no final 
solution of the greatest problem which confronts the administrator 
in charge of the construction and maintenance of city streets. 

In concluding these necessarily cursory notes, the fact must be 
emphasized that the choice of the most satisfactory type of wearing 
surface, is largely a local one. New York lays wood pavements only 


DISCUSSION 


247 


on level streets, Berlin only on grades. Other forms of block pave¬ 
ment than those largely used in New York, are giving satisfaction 
elsewhere. Time does not permit of reference to the many successful 
brick streets and those of various types of bituminous concrete, 
within the limits of neighboring cities. The question of paving 
construction in and adjacent to the tracks of street railways, is a 
problem in itself. 

One point above all must be kept in mind—careful work for a 
short time, will lay a good pavement; it can only be kept in its place in 
condition for use by constant vigilance. A thorough organization for 
the purpose of inspecting and reporting defects and for the execution 
of immediate repairs, is the prime requisite of a good highway bureau. 

The Chairman: The discussion of this paper will be opened by 
Captain J. W. Barnett, City Engineer of Athens, Georgia. 

Captain Barnett: Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the American 
Highway Association: I have been deeply interested in the paper 
which has just been read. I wish very much that I could have had 
access to this admirable document before the hour of discussion ar¬ 
rived, because there are many points of interest to engineers of this 
country contained therein and I would liked to have studied them 
more carefully before undertaking to lead in this discussion, but, 
in as much as I have not had the opportunity, I wish to make a few 
statements as to some of the most salient points. I feel that the 
author’s wide experience and travel fit him admirably for the han¬ 
dling of this most difficult subject. I notice that he makes the state¬ 
ment that only 10 per cent of the total area of the pavements laid in 
European cities have a permanent foundation, a concrete foundation. 
That is a most startling statement to me. I have never gone into 
that phase of the question abroad very carefully, have been labor¬ 
ing under the impression that the European pavements were of the 
very best class possible, that they took every precaution to over¬ 
come any possible failure in the foundations. I can readily see 
from this statement how many grievous errors have been made in 
this country in the construction of pavements. I understand now 
how so many engineers have been led to believe that a permanent 
form of pavement can be constructed without the use of a concrete 
foundation, using this as a precedent. They evidently have not 
taken into consideration the different conditions existing abroad and 
in this country. The European cities are very old, their principal 
highways have been in existence for centuries and doubtless very 
little, if any, material changes have been made in the grades. There¬ 
fore they have a natural foundation which, is, comparatively speak¬ 
ing, very good, upon which to lay a pavement. In this country 
the reverse is true. The rapid growth of our cities has necessitated 
frequent and constant changes in the grades, leaving a foundation 
upon which we must lay concrete or some other form of material 


248 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


sufficient to support the permanent surface. I note also, in this 
admirable paper that reference is made to the different proportions 
used throughout Europe and this country in the mix of concrete used 
in the foundations. A great many engineers have been misled by 
the proportions given in many specifications. They seem to think 
that a 1-3-6 or a 1-2-4 mix in New York City is suited for Atlanta 
regardless of the character of the ingredients entering into the mix. 
The profession is too prone to adopt the specifications of other cities. 
I think the proportioning of concrete is one of the most important 
things to decide. We should take the materials in hand, consider 
the percentage of voids and proportion the mix as may be required 
to form a dense concrete. I simply touch on this particular point 
because I feel that there are a great many errors being made in this, 
resulting in too weak a foundation to sustain the traffic. The in¬ 
crease in volume and weight of traffic is rapid. The advent of the 
heavy motor truck and other conveyances, carrying thousands of 
tons, necessitate a better class of construction than that used here¬ 
tofore. The gentleman refers also to the matter of selection of the 
pavement. That is a matter that is not given proper thought. 
Political influences are too frequently brought to bear in making this 
decision. We do not consider as fully as we should traffic conditions 
and the interests of the adjacent property holders to the thorough¬ 
fares to be paved. We are inclined to adopt some form of pavement 
because some other city does. 

The author refers to the matter of maintenance. To my mind 
that is the most serious problem confronting us today. The people 
of the South do not regard this question as they should. The 
average person feels that the pavement once laid is good for all time. 
If you see fit to make minor repairs in two or three years the tax¬ 
payer declares the venture a failure. Regardless of this feeling, 
repairs should be made promptly and systematically. It is an easy 
matter, with the experience of other cities, to select specifications 
that are effective; it is an easy matter to properly lay a pavement, 
but the question that gives most concern is that of maintenance. 
The Public Utility corporations are a great menace to our pave¬ 
ments—I mean the street railways, the telephone and electric light 
companies. Sewer, gas and water mains which have to be gone into 
frequently are the most disturbing elements. I do not know the 
practice in cities generally as to the matter of maintenance, but it 
seems to me that when an excavation is made in the streets that the 
repairs should be left entirely with the city officials, the engineering 
department. The engineer’s office should be notified when the sur¬ 
face is to be replaced and a trained force sent for the purpose of re¬ 
storing the pavements. That I think is the key note of success in 
the restoration of pavements where openings are necessary and have 
to be frequently made. From my own experience I know it is a 
matter of impossibility to get contractors and others who are paid 
so much per square yard to make a satisfactory job. Gentlemen, 
I thank you very much. 


DISCUSSION 


249 


Mr. King: Suppose you have a macadam street or road or a 
gravel road, and you want to surface it with asphaltic concrete or 
something; would you tear that up in order to get the concrete base 
and build a concrete base? Did you ever try using the macadam and 
gravel road as a substitute for the concrete base? 

Captain Barnett: No, 1 have not. I am very glad you brought 
up that point. I will tell you what I am doing at Athens, Ga. 
We have quite a lot of macadam roads that have been down for 
from ten to fifteen years without any repairs of a consequence being 
made on them. Now they are full of holes and unsuited for the 
automobile traffic, so I have undertaken to substitute for the mac¬ 
adam a concrete pavement. I am ripping up the macadam and 
using the stone as a matrix, and I think we are getting excellent 
results. 

Mr. King: We have a two mile stretch of road from the city 
limits to the country club in Memphis and it had been a splendid 
gravel road and we let a contractor surface that with two inches of 
asphaltic concrete, machine mixed method. The gravel of course 
was brought up to the proper contour, the holes filled and swept 
well. That has been down a year and a half; 300 to 500 automo¬ 
biles traveling over it every day or so and it is holding out splendidly. 
I have a five years’ maintenance guarantee. It cost $10,500 a mile to 
fix that and put it down and we are using that gravel as a concrete 
base and I am watching it with a good deal of interest. 

A Member: What width? 

Mr. King: It is 20 feet wide and wearing admirably; not a 
nickel of repairs so far. 

Captain Barnett: Under those conditions I am inclined to be¬ 
lieve that a concrete road could have been built for the same amount 
of money and you would have a road that would be there long after 
your scheme will have been forgotten. We are building concrete 
roads for $1.10 a square yard under the conditions named and along 
these streets we have street car lines, which increases the difficulty. 

Mr. King: What will you surface with? 

Captain Barnett: Tarvia, a paint coat about a quarter of 
an inch in thickness. 

Dr. Pratt: At the outset, most of us in the South had an idea 
that this subject was applicable principally to larger cities, but there 
is one phase of the question of maintenance that is applicable to all 
our small towns and villages that I want to emphasize in a few words, 


250 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


and that is I think we should draw a lesson from what has been done 
in larger cities, as for instance, borough of Manhattan, New York, 
where they had something like 400 and odd miles of streets and some¬ 
thing like 25,000 excavations a year; we should take a lesson from 
them, that in our small towns and villages throughout the South 
when we permit those streets to be dug up, that we should be just as 
emphatic that the one responsible for digging up that street either 
puts up a bond or a sufficient amount of money as a guarantee that 
the road surveys of that town or village will be put back in as good 
shape as it was before he began to do the digging. We think that 
because perhaps our village streets are surfaced, or sand clay graveled, 
or paved with a block pavement or concrete, it is not necessary 
to make those stipulations with those who are digging up our streets, 
but many of you who ride in automobiles have felt the result of the 
indiscriminate digging up and making excavations in streets in our 
small towns, by coming across what is apparently a “thank-you- 
ma’m” across a street. There is no excuse whatever for those being 
allowed in any of our small villages or towns of the South or North 
or East or West, and we should be just as careful to have our streets 
put back in good shape as they are in the larger cities or towns. 
And then just one other thought in that same connection which 
also has bearing on maintenance, and that is where we have our 
water pipes and sewers put down through these streets, let us see 
if we cannot pass an ordinance that connections shall be made with 
abutting property before the surfacing is done on that road and 
not have the experience I had not so very long ago; within 30 days 
after a road had been surfaced, there were six applications to cut 
that surface to connect abutting properties with the water main, 
when the order had already been given three months before that 
they should connect with the water main. Of course that is the 
fault of those in charge of the town itself, but to my mind we should 
take these lessons from the larger cities and put them into practice 
in our smaller towns and villages. 

Mr. Williams (of West Virginia): Following up what Dr. Pratt 
says, Huntington, West Virginia, solved that problem in a measure; 
they have an ordinance requiring all places in the street where open¬ 
ings have been made in any street surface for the purpose of making 
pipe connections, to be concreted from the pipes up to where the 
base of the bricks, or whatever surface goes in, is put in. That 
makes it so that the man, the next time he goes to get in there, 
will have to tear up the entire concrete, and the effect of that causes 
most every fellow that has connections to be made, to get busy 
and get it made at the right time because the property owner or 
whoever makes the connection has to pay this extra amount and 
then afterwards he has to stand the expense of taking it out in case 
of any repair to be made; not only that, but the filling in of the 
concrete in that way prevents the thank-you-mam that the doctor 
refers to. 


DISCUSSION 


251 


Mr. Watkins: In some of our cities in Washington, we have 
an ordinance that provides for putting water mains and sewer con¬ 
nections in at the time the water mains and the sewer pipes are laid 
to the property line for each sub-division of property, and there is 
a tax against that property and it has to be paid by the owner to 
provide for this and it obviates cutting up the streets. 

Mr. Shirley: We charge SI a square yard for earth cut out, 
S3 a square yard for macadam, S6 a square yard for asphalt, brick 
or concrete; this is charged against whoever makes the opening. 
We have had quite a great deal of trouble over those charges. The 
department makes the repairs after the cut has been made. The 
trouble comes in with us that public service corporations charge the 
individual the cost of repairing the pavement, in some places it 
will run up as high as $100. I have had delegations in my office 
of as high as 200 people asking to be relieved of that work. I have 
put down a pavement and after it has been down six months have 
had 39 applications made in a block to cut it for a new set of houses. 
That represented 39 families. I have had those 39 families to con¬ 
tend with and it is a problem. I would like to see some standard 
plan worked out. With us it is one of the most disagreeable parts 
of the work we have to handle. If you make these charges, public 
pressure is brought to bear to be relieved of them. We passed a 
rule that any pavement laid should not be opened for 4 years, and 
they even went to the legislature to make a new law about it. A 
man who owns a plot of land, we will notify him that a pavement is 
going to be laid at a certain time and that no opening will be made 
for 4 years. He will sell that land maybe two weeks after the 
road is laid; the land is developed, those lots are sold to different 
individuals, the individual makes the application for these water 
mains and if any of you here know what it means to have a home 
without water, gas, electric lights, etc., and have the ladies and 
gentlemen of the family behind you trying to get them in, you know 
you are up against a tough proposition. 

Mr. Leech (of Steubenville, Ohio): We have an ordinance that 
authorizes the engineering department to make as many taps as 
they deem necessary before a pavement is laid down, and charge 
it to abutting properties. The Gas Company, likewise, make their 
taps for the property before a pavement is put down, under the 
directions of the engineering department; then we charge a permit 
of $25 for tearing up a pavement within five years after ifc is put down. 
We have had very little occasion to tear up any streets in the last 
seven or eight years outside of what comes from a break or leak 
in the line. If a piece of ground is not sub-divided we imagine 
the sub-division and maybe we get in one or two too many but we 
put it in anyhow and charge it to the abutting property and it gives 
us very little trouble. 


252 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


Mr. Durham: There were one or two points brought out in the 
discussion which I thought it would be of interest to make a passing 
comment upon; one on the question of foundations. We do not 
in New York or anywhere else recognize the foundation as anything 
but some hard and durable non-compressive material on which the 
wearing surface is laid. Concrete is put there with the object of 
producing such a surface. If you have already a material just as 
hard and durable as concrete, there is no need of concrete. We 
have recognized that in one of our streets in New York where I 
was criticized by an inspector of the Finance Department who dis¬ 
covered that we were laying our concrete only 3 inches thick and 
I was called on for an explanation of that fact. It was supposed 
that a contractor was being allowed to scant his contract. In reply 
I pointed out that we were re-laying an old metallic road on a Telford 
base. There were 9 inches of good Telford in there and to pull 
out that good Telford to refill it with earth and 3 inches of concrete 
on top of that was ridiculous, so our concrete foundation is merely 
one means of getting a hard, incompressible foundation. The other 
points on the subject of street openings brought out quite an inter¬ 
esting discussion and I want to state that the problem in New York 
or London or in smaller cities is essentially the same. We require 
all applicants for permits to open a street pavement, to make a 
cash deposit of double the value of restoring that pavement. We 
inspect the work and then we, either with our city labor or a con¬ 
tractor, make the restoration and hold the balance of the money 
due for six months. In case there is no settlement the permittee 
gets the return of that balance. In case of any settlement, the 
pavement is resurfaced at his expense. In the case of a large public 
service corporation, it is permitted to put up a bond, but a cash 
deposit of $5000 is also required, because it is so handy in case of 
emergency. The superintendent of an office building in which one 
of our great daily papers is published made an application to open 
one of our cross streets two weeks after the pavement was finished. 
I asked him why that was necessary and he said, “It is due to the 
action of the Water Department in making a change in the valve 
some distance away” whereby they had the possibility of only one 
connection to their building and in case of emergency the newspaper 
would be unable to go on and the wheels of the nation would stop. 
The permit was refused. The application was renewed with addi¬ 
tional pressure. I saw that applicant and told him that if he would 
bring me a letter from the responsible editor of that newspaper, 
the application would be granted. It has never been renewed and 
the pavement has not been opened. 


BITUMINOUS MACADAM 


253 


BITUMINOUS MACADAM BY THE COLD MIXING 
METHOD 

By Irving W. Patterson 

Chief Engineer of the Rhode Island State Board of Public Roads 

The Rhode Island State board of public roads has, beginning 
with the year 1906, constructed a large amount of bituminous mac¬ 
adam by the cold mixing method, this type of construction being 
generally considered typical of Rhode Island State highway work. 
Reports of certain sections of our bituminous macadam construc¬ 
tion have been rendered at gatherings of this kind in past years, but 
as a rule these reports were made so soon after the date of con¬ 
struction that definite conclusions regarding the success of the work 
could not be drawn. It is the writer’s intention in this paper to 
give a r£sum6 of this work since the date of its inauguration in 1906 
and to draw certain conclusions regarding the points of construction 
and the adaptability of the cold mixing method, based upon his 
experience with work of this type in Rhode Island. 

The first attempt made by the State highway authorities of Rhode 
Island to avoid the deficiencies characteristic of plain waterbound 
macadam construction by the incorporation of a bituminous binder 
was upon the so-called Post Road which practically parallels the 
south shore of the State. This road is subjected to the heavy through 
automobile traffic between the famous shore resorts of Rhode Island 
and the large cities to the south and west. A traffic census upon 
this road taken during 1913 showed an average summer travel of 
approximately 600 vehicles daily, consisting very largely of motor 
vehicles. The construction work upon this section was carried out 
during midsummer of 1906. 

In 1906 there was little reliable information concerning bituminous 
macadam available, so the exact methods of carrying out the work 
necessarily had to be decided upon more or less arbitrarily. After 
considerable discussion by the engineers in charge of the work, it 
was decided to use a crude tar as a binder and to incorporate this 
material with the road metal by the cold mixing method. The 
mineral aggregate employed in the mix was crushed stone of sizes 
which were retained upon a one-half inch screen and which passed 
an inch and one-half screen. 

The stone employed was native field and wall stone, which is a 
rather coarse grained, somewhat kaolinized granite. 

The metalled surface was constructed 14 feet wide with a crown 
of three-quarters of 1 inch per foot. 

All rolling was accomplished by means of a ten-ton, three-wheel 
steam roller. 

The construction in brief was as follows. Crushed stone which 
was retained on an inch and one-half screen and which passed through 
a 3 inch screen was first spread over the well rolled sub-grade 


254 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


to a depth of 4 inches after compression. This course was not filled 
with sand or stone screenings but was well rolled. Crude tar was 
very lightly sprinkled over this first course of stone. Crushed stone 
of the sizes stated previously was then mixed with crude tar in the 
proportion of 15 gallons of tar per cubic yard of stone. Mixing was 
carried out upon a portable wooden mixing platform placed as closely 
as convenient to the point where the mixture was being spread. The 
mixture of stone and tar was spread over the first course of crushed 
stone to a depth of 2 inches after compression. The mixture was 
well rolled, after which a covering of stone screenings was applied. 

No foundations and no sub-drainage were deemed necessary upon 
this work because of the stable character of the gravelly sub-soil 
encountered. 

The results secured upon this first experimental section of bitumi¬ 
nous macadam were remarkably successful. No repairs have been 
required to date. The surface today is perfectly intact and presents 
a perfect mosaic appearance, due to the top surfaces of the stones 
in the mixture being all in evidence. 

In 1907 a much longer section of bituminous macadam was con¬ 
structed about one mile east of the first experimental section. The 
method of construction was almost identical with the construction 
employed the previous year. The results secured upon the section 
built in 1907 were inferior to the results secured in 1906. The sur¬ 
face began to ravel slightly in 1912, and during that year a seal-coat 
of refined tar was applied. Today the surface is somewhat irregular 
and a few breaks are in evidence, although the riding qualities of 
the road are very fair. We attribute the relatively inferior results 
secured from our work in 1907 largely to a less stable sub-soil. 

It will be noticed from the foregoing brief description of the method 
of construction that no seal-coat was applied at the time of con¬ 
struction. Subsequent experiments have proved the advisability 
of seal-coating. We attribute the marked success of this early work 
in spite of the absence of a seal-coat largely to the character of the 
travel. The horse-drawn traffic over both of the above sections is 
very light, and we believe that the blows of horses’ shoes upon the 
exposed surfaces of the soft stones would be destructive if horse- 
drawn traffic occurred in any considerable amount. 

In 1908 bituminous macadam by the cold mixing method was 
taken up to much greater extent. Various experiments both in 
materials and methods were carried out, and today we are able to 
see that these experiments were largely negative in results produced. 
We tried many materials and combinations of materials which did 
not give satisfaction, and no work noticeably superior to the work 
of 1906 and 1907 was done. Results approximating those secured 
in 1906 and 1907 were secured, however, upon sections constructed 
in the same manner as were the bituminous roads built those years. 
Perhaps the greatest failures in the work during 1908 were "upon 
sections where tar products and asphalt products heated in separate 
kettles were used in combination as a binder for the top course of 


BITUMINOUS MACADAM 


255 


crushed stone. Where this combination of binders was employed, 
ravelling started the following year and increased in extent very 
rapidly as time went on. In 1913 a heavy seal-coat of asphalt was 
applied to several of the roads bound with a combination of tar and 
asphalt and the results secured from this treatment appear highly 
satisfactory. 

In 1909 some very interesting experiments were carried out and 
these experiments produced some very positive results. It is true 
that there was work done in 1909 according to methods tried out 
in 1908 and since proved unsatisfactory, but at the date of the con¬ 
struction of the 1909 work it was not to be ascertained for a certainty 
what of the 1908 work was satisfactory and what was not, due to 
the short time the work had been done. 

Upon the Nayatt Point road in the town of Barrington the most 
interesting and valuable experiments of the year were carried out. 
The section of this road selected for the experiments offered excellent 
opportunities for experimental work because of the remarkable uni¬ 
formity and excellent stability of the sub-soil encountered. We are 
reasonably certain that foundation troubles have not been responsible 
for any of the defects which have developed in any of the experi¬ 
mental sections. These experiments have been completed long 
enough now so that we are enabled to draw certain definite conclu¬ 
sions from them. The results are not of any particular interest as 
far as the comparison of methods of construction is concerned but 
they are of great interest in the comparison of bituminous materials. 
We give below a report of these experiments, together with descrip¬ 
tions of the repairs necessitated upon each section and the appear¬ 
ance presented by each section October, 1914. 

REPORT OF BARRINGTON 1909 EXPERIMENTAL WORK 

All of the experiments were carried out between August 31, 1909, 
and October 22, 1909. 

The soil encountered throughout is a sandy loam which allows 
of free percolation of water and is never subject to heaving due to 
frost action. 

The traffic is composed largely of motor vehicles, although in 
early spring and late fall considerable heavy horse-drawn traffic is 
found. The traffic over the road is not excessive—a fair daily aver¬ 
age of the number of vehicles passing over the road between May 1 
and October 1, being very close to 350. During the remainder of 
the year, the traffic is less. 

The metalled surface was constructed 14 feet wide and crowned 
three-quarters of an inch to the foot. 

The stone employed upon all of the experimental sections with 
the exception of Section No. 1 was native field and wall stone which 
was in large part a fine grained, hard granite. Upon Section No. 1 
Connecticut Trap Rock was employed. 


256 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


The type of construction employed upon all of the sections was 
bituminous macadam by the cold mixing method. 

The total depth of road metal was six inches after rolling. No 
foundations were deemed necessary because of the stable character 
of the sub-soil, and no sub-drains were constructed. The crushed 
stone was laid in two courses. The first course consisted of crushed 
stone which passed through a three-inch screen and was retained 
on an inch and one-half screen, laid to a depth of 4 inches after 
compression. Neither filler nor bituminous material was applied 
to this course. The second course of stone, into which bituminous 
material was incorporated, was laid to a depth of 2 inches after 
compression. The surface covering consisted of clean one-half inch 
stone screenings. The first course of stone was well rolled previous 
to the laying of the second course of stone. 

Except upon two sections (Sections 7 and 8) mixing was done by 
hand upon a wooden mixing platform composed of two separate 
parts, each 8 feet square. This platform was laid on top of the first 
course of stone immediately ahead of the point where the mixture 
was being laid. Six men were employed in mixing the stone with 
the bituminous binder and shovelling the mixture onto the road. 
Mixing was carried out until all stones were completely covered 
with bituminous material. The crushed stone was not heated pre¬ 
vious to mixing. In addition to the six men who did the mixing 
there were two other men in the gang who assisted in handling the 
bituminous part of the work—a raker who graded the mixture after 
it was shovelled onto the road and a man who took care of the 
kettles in which the bituminous material was heated. In the con¬ 
struction of Sections 7 and 8 a mixing machine known as the American 
Tar Company Mixer was employed. This machine was not a 
mechanical mixer, since it was in effect merely a special heated plat¬ 
form upon which mixing was accomplished by pulling by hand the 
crushed stone through a reservoir of heated bituminous material. 
The same number of men were employed in mixing with this con¬ 
trivance as were employed in the mixing upon a mixing platform. 

All of the experimental sections were seal-coated at the time of 
construction. The seal-coat was applied with ordinary house brooms. 

All rolling in connection with the work was accomplished with a 
fifteen-ton, three-wheel roller. 

The analyses of the bituminous materials were all made in the 
testing laboratory of the Rhode Island State Board of Public Roads. 

EXPERIMENT NO. 1 

(Crude tar and asphalt in mix with asphalt seal-coat—trap rock) 

Construction. Upon our first experiment we employed a mixture 
composed of 50 per cent crude tar and 50 per cent hard asphalt in 
the mix. The tar and the asphalt were heated in separate kettles 
and applied separately to the stone upon the mixing platform—the 
tar always being spread over the stone first and the asphalt last. 


BITUMINOUS MACADAM 


257 


A seal-coat of the same asphalt that was used in the mix was applied 
over the mixture. 

The amount of binder employed for the mix was 18 gallons per 
cubic yard of stone. 

The amount of binder employed for the seal-coat was J gallon per 
square yard of surface. 

The stone employed was Connecticut Trap Rock throughout. The 
first course of crushed stone consisted of the commercial 2J inch 
stone and the second course, with which the binder was incorporated, 
with commercial 1| inch stone which was claimed to be of sizes 
retained upon a \ inch screen and which passed a 1J inch screen. 

Cost. The cost of this section was SO.827 per square yard exclu¬ 
sive of grading. 


ANALYSIS OF CRUDE TAR 


Specific gravity. 

Water soluble material (organic).. 
Water soluble material (inorganic) 

Free carbon. 

Ash. 

Fixed carbon. 

Melting point of normal material.. 

Evaporation 5 hours at 170°C. 

Melting point of residue. 

Penetration of residue at 40°C 
Penetration of residue at 25°C 

Distillation. 

Up to 105°C. 

105°C. to 170°C. 

170°C. to 225°C. 

225°C. to 270°C. 

270°C. to 300°C. 


ANALYSIS OF ASPHALT 

Specific gravity. 

Water soluble material (organic). 

Water soluble material (inorganic). 

Free carbon. 

Ash.. 

Solubility in cold carbon tetra-chloride. 

Fixed carbon. 

Paraffine... 

Melting point of normal material. 

Evaporation 5 hours at 170°C. 

Melting point of residue. 

Penetration of residue at 4°C. 

Penetration of residue at 25°C. 

Evaporation 5 hours at 205°C. 

Melting point of residue. 

Penetration of residue at 4°C. 

Penetration of residue at 25°C. 

Solubility in 88° B. naphtha. 

Character of solution (oily or sticky). 

Viscosity 100°C. 

New York Testing Laboratory viscosimeter.. 
Viscosity 25°C. 

Penetrometer. 


1.256 



. 0.700 

per 

cent 

0.000 

per 

cent 

. 30.200 

per 

cent 

0.000 

per 

cent 

. 38.000 

per 

cent 



. 18.600 

per 

cent 

. 70.000 

degrees 

0.750 



. 19.600 



. 20.680 

per 

cent 

. 1.600 

per 

cent 

2.640 

per 

cent 

. 5.740 

per 

cent 

6.820 

per 

cent 

3.880 

per 

cent 

0.994 



0.190 

per 

cent 

0.000 

per 

cent 

0.270 

per 

cent 

0.290 

per 

cent 

.. 98.730 

per 

cent 

.. 12.600 

per 

cent 

0.410 

per 

cent 

. 95.000 

degrees 

0.550 

per 

cent 

. 103.000 

degrees 

. 20.000 



. 36.000 



1.060 

per 

cent 

. 117.000 

degrees 

. 14.000 



. 30.000 



. 68.300 

per 

cent 

. sticky 


. 379.000 

seconds 

. 30.000 










































258 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


Results. This section was very nearly a failure. Hair lines devel¬ 
oped inside of one month after completion and by the following spring 
ravelling had become quite extensive. Patching has been necessary 
each year since construction. What remained of the original surface 
by October, 1914, appeared rough and hair-lined and numerous 
breaks were in evidence. 

We feel that the character of the stone employed in the mix was 
one reason for failure. The percentage of the smaller sizes of stone 
as compared with the percentage found in native stone was small 
in the commercial trap rock, so the rolled mixture consequently was 
far from compact. The combination of tar and asphalt in the mix 
is also to our minds a reason for failure. Such a combination has 
never given us first-class results, although with some grades of stone 
the results have been fair. 

EXPERIMENT NO. 2 

(Crude tar and asphalt in mix with asphalt seal-coat—native stone) 

Construction. The second experiment was practically a duplica¬ 
tion of Experiment No. 1 with the exception that native stone was 
employed in place of Connecticut Trap Rock. The binders employed 
were purported by the manufacturers to be identical with the binders 
used in Experiment No. 1, and the analyses of the materials showed 
that such was the case. The analyses were so nearly identical with 
the analyses given of the materials employed upon Experiment No. 
1 that they are not here given. 

There was a slight variation in the quantity of binder employed 
for the mix, 15 gallons per cubic yard of stone being used instead of 
18 gallons. The same amount of binder (J gallon per square yard) 
was used for the seal-coat. 

Cost. The cost of this work was $0,788 per square yard exclusive 
of grading. 

Results. The results secured upon Experiment No. 2 have proven 
fairly satisfactory. There have been a few breaks in the surface 
which required repair. These breaks have occurred with increasing 
frequency since construction. The cost of maintenance during a 
period of five years was approximately $0,025 per square yard. 

Upon examination in October, 1914, the surface presented a smooth 
asphalt finish except in a very few spots where the seal-coat had 
worn off and allowed the surfaces of the stones to become visible. 
A sample of the road taken up showed, however, that there was 
no appreciable life left in the binder. The material in the seal-coat 
appeared to be in good condition. 

The superior success of this section as compared with Experiment 
No. 1 we attribute to the superior grading of the sizes of the native 
stone with the resulting stronger mechanical bond. 


BITUMINOUS MACADAM 


259 


EXPERIMENT NO. 3 

Refined coal tar in both mix and seal-coat 


Construction. Upon our third experiment a refined coal tar of 
the characteristics shown below was employed. The quantities em¬ 
ployed were 16.5 gallons per cubic yard for the mix and f gallon 
per square yard for the seal-coat. Native stone was employed. 

Cost. The cost of this work was $0,838 per square yard exclusive 
of grading. 


ANALYSIS OF REFINED TAR 

Specific gravity.. 

Water soluble material (organic). 

Water soluble material (inorganic). 

Free carbon. 

Ash. 

Fixed carbon. 

Melting point of normal material. 

Evaporation 5 hours at 170°C. 

Melting point of residue. 

Penetration of residue at 4°C. 

Penetration of residue at 25°C. 

Distillation. 

Up to 105°C.. 

105°C to 170°C. 

170°C. to 225°C. 

225°C. to 270°C. 

270°C. to 300°C. 


1.222 

0.400 per cent 
0.410 per cent 
24.700 per cent 
0.100 per cent 
29.390 per cent 
too soft 
15.000 per cent 
62.000 degrees 
2.000 
15.000 

19.690 per cent 
0.000 per cent 
0.380 per cent 
7.820 per cent 
8.280 per cent 
3.210 per cent 


Results. The results to date have been very satisfactory, although 
a complete renewal of the seal-coat is called for. No repairs to the 
metalled surface were carried out until the fall of 1914, although 
the necessity for repair was evident for some time previous. The 
seal-coat began to disappear noticeably about one year after con¬ 
struction. Two years after construction a true mosaic surface was 
presented by the exposed surfaces of the crushed stone. The sur¬ 
face gradually became rougher, due apparently to the decomposition 
of the binder in the surface voids. Ravelling was not in evidence 
until the summer of 1914. The need for renewal of the seal-coat 
was felt in 1913, but since the section was experimental, we wished 
to see exactly how long it would be before disintegration set in. 

Examination during October, 1914 (previous to any repairs being 
made), showed a rough mosaic surface with occasional evidence of 
ravelling. Abrasion of the stone by traffic was very evident, the 
surface being covered with a very light coating of particles of stone 
which apparently had been broken off from the stones composing 
the road surface. 

EXPERIMENT NO. 4 
Asphalt in both mix and seal-coat 

The characteristics of the asphalt employed in this experiment 
may be obtained from the analysis given below. The quantities of 
binder employed were 21 gallons per cubic yard of stone for the mix 
and f gallon per square yard for the seal-coat. 



















260 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


Cost. The cost of this section was $0,898 per square yard exclusive 
of grading. 

ANALYSIS OF ASPHALT 


Specific gravity. 0.965 

W ater soluble material (organic). 0.320 per cent 

Water soluble material (inorganic). 0.000 per cent 

Free carbon. 0.340 per cent 

Ash. 0.030 per cent 

Solubility in cold carbon tetra-ehloride. 99.620 per cent 

Fixed carbon. 7.990 per cent 

Paraffine. 0.160 per cent 

Evaporation 5 hours at 170°C. 16.600 per cent 

Melting point of residue. 65.000 degrees 

Penetration of residue at 4°C. 46.000 

Penetration of residue at 25°C. 105.000 

Evaporation 5 hours at 205°C. 19.100 per cent 

Melting point of residue. 116.000 degrees 

Penetration of residue at 4°C. 29.000 

Penetration of residue at 25°C. 58.000 


Results. The results obtained upon this section are to date supe¬ 
rior to the results secured upon any other section. No repairs have 
been necessitated. 

Examination during October, 1914, showed a perfectly intact, 
smooth asphalt finish. 

EXPERIMENT NO. 5 

Refined tar containing 20 per cent of asphalt in both mix and seal-coat 

Construction. The material used in this section was a refined tar 
mixed with 20 per cent of asphalt at the manufacturer’s plant. The 
quantities of material employed were 24 gallons per cubic yard of 
stone for the mix and f gallon for the seal-coat. 

Cost. This section cost $0,924 per square yard exclusive of grading. 

ANALYSIS OF BITUMINOUS BINDER 


Specific gravity. 1.176 

Water soluble material (organic). 0.490 per cent 

Water soluble material (inorganic). 0.110 per cent 

Free carbon. 18.600 per cent 

Ash. 0.050 per cent 

Solubility in cold carbon tetra-chloride. 74.000 per cent 

Fixed carbon. 27.400 per cent 

Evaporation 5 hours at 170°C. 10.500 per cent 

Melting point of residue. 70.000 degrees 

Penetration of residue at 4°C. 2.000 

Penetration of residue at 25°C. 12.000 

Evaporation 5 hours at 205°C. 17.500 per cent 

Melting point of residue. 80.000 degrees 

Penetration of residue at 4°C. £ degrees 

Penetration of residue at 25°C. 21 

Viscosity 25°C. 

Penetrometer. too soft 


Results. The results obtained upon this section are very fair. 
The surface became perfectly mosaic inside of two years from the 
date of construction, due to the disappearance of the seal-coat. No 
repairs have been given this section, but the need for a renewal of 
the seal-coat has been appreciated for two years. 


































BITUMINOUS MACADAM 


261 


Inspection during October showed a rough mosaic surface, per¬ 
fectly intact as far as ravelling is concerned, and slightly darker in 
color than the surface of Section No. 3. 

EXPERIMENT NO. 6 

Refined tar containing 10 per cent of asphalt in both mix and seal-coat 

Construction. The binder employed in this experiment was manu¬ 
factured by the same concern which furnished the material for Experi¬ 
ment No. 5. The only difference claimed for the material was the 
different percentage of asphalt. The quantities of binder employed 
were 24 gallons per cubic yard of stone for the mix and f gallon per 
square yard of surface for the seal-coat. 

Cost. The cost of this section was $0,917 per square yard exclu¬ 
sive of grading. 

ANALYSIS OF BITUMINOUS BINDER 


Specific gravity. 1.211 

Water soluble material (organic). 0.580 per cent 

Water soluble material (inorganic). 0.000 per cent 

Free carbon. 22.500 per cent 

Ash. 0.090 per cent 

Solubility in cold carbon tetra-chloride. 69.500 

Fixed carbon. 26.200 per cent 

Evaporation 5 hours at 170°C. 13.500 per cent 

Melting point of residue. 67.000 degrees 

Penetration at 4°C. 1 000 

Penetration of residue at 25°C. 10.000 

Evaporation 5 hours at 205°C. 18.000 per cent 

Melting point of residue. 85.000 

Penetration of residue at 4°C. h 

Penetration of residue at 25°C. 1J 

Distillation. 18.690 per cent 

Up to 105°C. 0.290 per cent 

105°C. to 170°C. 1.000 per cent 

170°C. to 225°C... 3.290 per cent 

225°C. to 270°C. 9.430 per cent 

270°C. to 300°C. 4.680 per cent 


Results. The results obtained upon Section No. 6, were not 
noticeably different from the results secured upon Section No. 5. 
No repairs have been carried out upon this section to date. 

Observation during October, 1914, could disclose no differences in 
appearance or condition from Section No. 5, except perhaps a 
slightly lighter color. 

EXPERIMENT NO. 7 
Refined tar in both mix and seal-coat 

Construction. Mixing in this experiment was carried out with an 
American Tar Company mixing machine. The amounts of mate¬ 
rial used were 24 gallons per cubic yard of stone for the mix and 
f gallon per square yard for the seal-coat. 

Cost. The cost of this section was $0,910 per square yard exclu¬ 
sive of grading. 























262 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


ANALYSIS OF REFINED TAR 

Specific gravity. 

Water soluble material (organic). 

Water soluble material (inorganic). 

Free carbon. 

Ash. 

Fixed carbon. 

Melting point of normal material. 

Evaporation 5 hours at 170°C. 

Melting point of residue. 

Penetration of residue at 4°C. 

Penetration of residue at 25°C. 

Distillation. 

Up to 105 °C. 

105°C. to 170°C. 

170°C. to 225°C. 

225°C. to 270°C. 

270°C. to 300°C. 


1.244 



0.240 

per 

cent 

0.430 

per 

cent 

24.500 

per 

cent 

0.010 

per 

cent 

30.700 

per 

cent 

too soft 


11.900 

per 

cent 

63.000 

degrees 

3.000 



15.000 



20.660 

per 

cent 

0.000 

per 

cent 

0.320 

per 

cent 

4.760 

per 

cent 

10.870 

per 

cent 

4.710 

per 

cent 


Results. The results secured in this work are not appreciably 
different from the results described in the report of Experiments 
No. 3, where also a refined tar was employed. Ravelling has not 
progressed to the extent that it has upon Section No. 3, but examina¬ 
tion showed evidences of ravelling. 


EXPERIMENT NO. 8 

Refined water-gas tar 

Construction. Mixing upon this section was accomplished by means 
of an American Tar Company mixing machine. The quantities of 
binder used were 24 gallons per cubic yard of stone for the mix and 
| gallon per square yard of surface for the seal-coat. 

Cost. The cost of this work was $0,932 per square yard exclusive 
of grading. 


ANALYSIS OF REFINED WATER-GAS TAR 

Specific gravity. 

Water soluble material (organic). 

Water soluble material (inorganic). 

Free carbon. 

Ash. 

Fixed carbon. 

Evaporation 5 hours at 170°C. 

Melting point of residue. 

Penetration of residue at 4°C. 

Penetration of residue at 25°C. 

Distillation. 

Up to 105°C. 

105°C. to 170°C. 

170°C. to 225°C. 

225°C. to 270°C. 

270°C. to 300°C. 

Viscosity 25°C. 

Penetrometer. 


1.167 



0.250 

per 

cent 

0.130 

per 

cent 

2.420 

per 

cent 

0.110 

per 

cent 

22.100 

per 

cent 

15.500 

per 

cent 

74.000 

degrees 

0.500 



3 000 



16.830 



0.000 

per 

cent 

0.000 

per 

cent 

0.000 

per 

cent 

10.390 

per 

cent 

6.440 

per 

cent 

too soft 




Results. The results secured upon this section have been very 
satisfactory. One patch was necessitated about one year after com- 




































BITUMINOUS MACADAM 


263 


pletion, but no further repairs have been needed. The seal-coat 
lias worn off, but decomposition of the binder has not extended 
down in the surface voids appreciably. 

Examination during October, 1914, showed a smooth mosaic sur¬ 
face very dark in color as compared with the surfaces of the other 
sections which appear mosaic. The surface was perfectly intact. 
The need for a renewal of the seal-coat is beginning to be in evidence. 

EXPERIMENT NO. 9 
Crude tar in mix , asphalt seal-coat 

Construction. Mixing upon this section was carried out by hand 
upon mixing platforms. The quantities of binder employed were 

-i o „_ 11 v • _ _l _ p _ j • it. . _ • a . _ n 


Cost. The cost of this section was $0,816 per square yard exclu¬ 
sive of grading. 

ANALYSIS OF TAR 

Specific gravity. 1.256 

Water soluble material (organic). 0.700 per cent 

Water soluble material (inorganic). 0.000 per cent 

Free carbon. 30.200 per cent 

Ash. 0.000 per cent 

Fixed carbon. 38.050 per cent 

Melting point of normal material.too soft 

Evaporation 5 hours at 170°C. *. 18.600 per cent 

Melting point of residue. 70.000 degrees 

Penetration of residue at 4°C. 0.750 

Penetration of residue at 25°C. 19.600 

Distillation. 20.680 percent 

Up to 105°C. 1.600 per cent 

105°C. to 170°C. 2.640 per cent 

170°C. to 225°C. 5.740 per cent 

225°C. to 270°C. 6.820 per cent 

270°C. to 300°C. 3.880 per cent 

ANALYSIS OF ASPHALT 

Specific gravity. 0.994 

Water soluble material (organic). 0.190 per cent 

Water soluble material (inorganic). 0.000 per cent 

Free carbon. 0.270 per cent 

Ash. 0.290 per cent 

Solubility in cold carbon tetra-chloride. 98.730 per cent 

Fixed carbon. 12.600 per cent 

Paraffine. 0.410 per cent 

Melting point of normal material. 95.000 degrees 

Evaporation 5 hours at 170°C. 0.550 per cent 

Melting point of residue. 103.000 degrees 

Penetration of residue at 4°C. 20.000 

Penetration of residue at 25°C. 36.000 

Evaporation 5 hours at 205°C. 1 060 per cent 

Melting point of residue. 117.000 degrees 

Penetration of residue at 4°C. 14.000 

Penetration of residue at 25°C. 30.000 

Solubility in 88° B. naphtha.. 68.300 per cent 

Character of solution (oily or sticky).sticky 






































264 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


Viscosity 100°C. 

New York Testing Laboratory viscosimeter. 379.00 seconds 

Viscosity 25°C. 

Penetrometer. 30.000 


Results. No ravelling has ever taken place upon this section. 
The only repairs necessitated to date have consisted merely in touch¬ 
ing up spots where the seal-coat had disappeared. The expense of 
maintenance to date has been less than $0,005 per square yard. 

A smooth asphalt surface was presented by this section upon 
examination during October, 1914. There was no evidence of ravel¬ 
ling to be seen, but in a very few small spots the disappearance of 
the seal-coat allowed the top surfaces of the stones to be seen. 

CONCLUSIONS DRAWN FROM ABOVE EXPERIMENTS 

These experiments at Barrington seem to prove that certain forms 
of the cold mixing method are very satisfactory upon roads sub¬ 
jected largely to motor vehicle traffic. Only tw T o of the sections 
have necessitated repairs of any account during the five years they 
have been laid. Both of the sections requiring repair were laid with 
the same combination of binders, and the much greater extent of 
repairs necessitated upon the section constructed of trap rock is of 
interest in consideration of mineral aggregates. 

It was shown conclusively that a seal-coat of asphalt is much more 
permanent than a seal-coat of refined tar, although both the crude 
tar and the refined tars gave excellent results as far as their binding 
of the mineral aggregate is concerned. 

The effectiveness of refined water-gas tar is also proven. The 
section built of this product is superior at present to either section 
built of refined coal-tar. 

BITUMINOUS MACADAM SUBSEQUENT TO 1909 

In 1910 the typical construction employed was a mixture of crude 
tar and crushed stone, seal-coated with a heavy asphaltic product. 
It will be noticed that this construction is identical with the con¬ 
struction employed in Experiment No. 9 at Barrington the previous 
year. The facility with which the crude tar could be handled and 
the good results secured with this material previously accounted for 
its extended use in 1910. The results secured with this type of 
construction in 1910 were very successful. With one exception these 
roads have required only the lightest of repairs to date, the exception 
noted being located upon the main street of a large village and 
constructed of commercial 2J inch and 1| inch trap rock. This 
road had disintegrated somewhat by the spring of 1911, and from 
that time on the disintegration rapidly became greater in extent. 
By the spring of 1913 the condition of the surface was serious. Sev¬ 
eral breaks of 10 square yards or more in area appeared, and small 
breaks were very numerous. It was decided to patch the breaks 




BITUMINOUS MACADAM 


265 


with a mixture of three-quarter inch trap rock and refined tar and 
to apply over the entire surface a seal-coat of asphalt covered with 
clean one-half inch trap rock screenings. Asphalt of approximately 
15 mm. penetration was applied at the rate of one-half gal on per 
square yard of surface and covered while hot with screenings, which 
were rolled with a 6-ton tandem roller as soon as possible. This 
work was done in June, 1913. The results of this treatment have 
proved very satisfactory, no further ravelling having taken place 
to date. 

Mixing in 1910 was accomplished by the hand mixing method 
upon wooden platforms. 

The crude tar which was used to the greatest extent in our work 
during 1910 was the product of the Providence gas plant. Since 
1910, vertical retorts have been installed at this plant and the crude 
tar at present produced is not suitable for use by the mixing method 
without previous refining. The Providence gas house tar used in 
1910 was remarkable for its uniform good quality, and we doubt if 
we could duplicate the results secured that year with any crude tar 
at present available in sufficient quantity for our needs. 

In 1911 no appropriation for road work was made by the General 
Assembly and consequently no bituminous macadam was constructed. 

In 1912 an attempt was made to duplicate in effect the excellent 
results secured in 1906 by the use of crude tar by employing a com¬ 
paratively light refined tar. It was the express intention to apply 
to the roads built with this refined tar a seal-coat of asphalt as soon 
as need for such treatment was evidenced, thereby securing event¬ 
ually the same type of road which was so eminently satisfactory in 
1910. 

Mechanical mixing was introduced into our work for the first 
time in 1912. The type of mixer employed upon practically all of 
the work was a cube mixer of approximately one-half cubic yard 
capacity fitted with a heating device. The stone was not heated 
previous to mixing, the heating device being employed merely for 
the purpose of keeping the inside of the mixer warm so that it would 
not become clogged. The heat was developed by a flame generated 
by the combustion of crude oil sprayed under pressure, and this 
flame entered the mixer. It is the writer’s opinion that this direct 
flame was responsible for burning the bituminous material in sev¬ 
eral cases. 

The stone employed in the mix upon the work in 1912 was both 
local 1J inch stone and commercial lj inch trap rock. The results 
secured with the local stone averaged superior to the results with 
trap rock. 

The results secured upon our work in 1912 were variable. In 
1913 it was deemed necessaary to seal-coat with asphalt approxi¬ 
mately 42 per cent of the total area of the roads constructed in 1912. 
During 1914 approximately 6 per cent of the total area was seal- 
coated with asphalt. The roads which have not been seal-coated 


266 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


are in very good condition at present, but we anticipate the necessity 
for applying a seal-coat to all of them during the next two construc¬ 
tion seasons. The seal-coating of the work done in 1912 has been 
very effective to date, but it is as yet too early to draw conclusions 
regarding the results of the 1912 work after seal-coating as compared 
with the results secured in 1910 where the seal-coat was applied at 
the time of construction. 

During 1913 the amount of bituminous macadam constructed by 
the cold mixing method was small as compared with the amount 
constructed in 1912. Two methods were employed. The type of 
construction employed in 1910 was taken up to some extent with a 
refined tar in place of a crude tar—a seal-coat of asphalt being 
applied at the time of construction in exactly the same manner. 
An asphalt of characteristics similar to the asphalt employed upon 
Experiment No. 4 at Barrington in 1909 was used to some extent 
in both mix and seal-coat. The work by both methods has proved 
perfectly satisfactory to date, although the construction is so recent 
that definite conclusions cannot be drawn. Trap rock was employed 
satisfactorily in the mix for the first time during 1913. The com¬ 
mercial three-quarter inch size of trap rock was employed in place 
of the commercial 1| inch size which was previously used, and this 
product has given excellent satisfaction to date. 

It has been proved in our work that the utmost care in construct¬ 
ing bituminous macadam by the cold mixing method is necessary. 
The crushed stone must be perfectly dry at the time of mixing and 
all stones must be perfectly covered with bitumen in order that good 
results may be secured. The manner of carrying out the rolling is 
also important in its effect upon the results obtained. It is, of 
course, necessary to secure by rolling as compact a mass as possible, 
but we have found that considerable care must be exercised in regu¬ 
lating the time and amount of rolling. If the weather is cool at the 
time of construction, we frequently postpone the heavy rolling until 
mid-day, when the maximum warmth is experienced, although the 
initial rolling is done as soon after the mixture is laid as possible. 

The character and sizes of the crushed stone employed are also 
of great importance. We have secured the best results, as far as 
stone is concerned with our native rock, which is rather variable in 
character. As a rule our native rock is softer than trap rock and 
breaks with a much more irregular fracture than trap rock. There 
is more or less breaking of the native stone by rolling, and this 
appears to be beneficial rather than otherwise in that a denser pave¬ 
ment is secured. We feel that if trap rock is employed, smaller 
sizes are necessary than are necessary with a softer stone, unless 
there is a certainty of securing a perfect crusher-run from inch 
to one-quarter inch or less. 

We have experimented with heating the aggregate previous to 
mixing, but these experiments seem to show that inferior results 
are secured as compared with the results obtained with the same 


BITUMINOUS MACADAM 


267 


materials where the aggregate is unheated. The aggregate in bitumi¬ 
nous macadam contains at best a large percentage of voids, and in 
the heated aggregate there was noted a tendency upon the part of 
the binder to run off from the stones, leaving only a very thin coat¬ 
ing upon each stone. In several cases, for instance, 18 gallons of 
binder per cubic yard of stone were necessary to cover all stones in 
our unheated mineral aggregate, but when the aggregate was heated, 
12 gallons would cover all stones and there would be considerable 
bitumen which would run through the mineral aggregate and be lost. 
The tendency for the bitumen to cover a heated aggregate very 
lightly seems to be due to the fact that the heat retained by the 
stones does not allow the binder to become hard for a considerable 
time, with the result that it continues to run for nome time. We 
recognize that it is necessary to heat the aggregate is a dense mixture 
such as a bituminous concrete pavement affords, but in bituminous 
macadam work by the mixing method we prefer a cold aggregate or 
an aggregate heated but slightly. 

The weather conditions influence the results obtained in bitu¬ 
minous macadam by the mixing method considerably. We have 
noticed that roads built late in the fall just before freezing sets in 
are not apt to be as satisfactory as those built in mid-summer, even 
though the temperature at the time of construction is not low. It 
seems to be a decided advantage to roads built by this method of 
construction to have a comparatively long period of warm weather 
immediately after construction in order that the surface may become 
freed from the top covering of stone screenings and well smoothed 
out before snow and ice appear. In Rhode Island we consider the 
season most favorable to this type of construction to be between 
the middle of May and the middle of October. 

Upon the whole, the cold mixing method of constructing bitumi¬ 
nous macadam as practiced in Rhode Island appears to be an eco¬ 
nomical pavement for motor vehicle traffic. It does not appear to 
the writer as suitable for heavy horse-drawn traffic or for a heavy 
mixed traffic. The traffic upon several of the trunk lines in Rhode 
Island consists of motor vehicle traffic to the extent of over 90 per 
cent of the total amount of traffic, and it is upon these roads that 
we expect in the future to confine our bituminous macadam roads 
built by the cold mixing method. Through large villages where 
the percentage of horse-drawn traffic is large, we expect to take up 
a stronger method of construction. 

The Chairman: The next paper on the program has been taken 
from the afternoon session and transferred to the morning session. 
It is a paper on “Convict Labor,” by Mr. George P. Coleman, 
State Highway Commissioner of Virginia. 


208 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


CONVICT LABOR 

By George P. Coleman 
State Highway Commissioner of Virginia 

Prior to 1906 the convicts of this State were let out to contract, 
first, in the construction of railways and other public works, and 
then under one contract for the making of shoes. This was done 
in the Penitentiary enclosure, in buildings constructed by the con¬ 
tractor. In the revision of our constitution on 1903, section 185, 
provides that the Legislature may make provision for the use of her 
State convicts and jail men in the construction of State and county 
roads. With this end in view, the Legislature of 1906 passed the 
Withers-Lassiter law, placing certain of her convicts on the roads. 
This law has been amended by each succeeding Legislature until 
its provisions are about as follows: 

A county or district of a county desiring to use convicts in the 
construction of its public highways, must make application, through 
the county road authorities, to the Highway Commissioner, for a 
force of convicts. This application must designate the road or roads 
to be improved, their approximate length and location and the 
amount of money on hand to carry on the construction. The 
Highway Commissioner will, as soon as possible after the receipt of 
this application, send an engineer to the county to make the neces¬ 
sary surveys for changes in location from which plans, profiles, es¬ 
timates of cost and specifications are prepared. These estimates, 
plans, etc., are then furnished the county road authorities, and if 
agreed to by them, the Highway Commissioner then makes requisi¬ 
tion on the Superintendent of the Penitentiary for a force of men. 
The county road authorities, in this second application, agree, on 
the part of the county, that the work shall be done under the direct 
supervision of the Highway Commissioner; they also agree that the 
work shall be done either by contract or by force account; if the 
former, the work is then advertised by the Highway Commissioner 
and the bids are opened at the county court house and the work is let 
to the lowest responsible bidder, subject to the approval of the 
commissioner. In this contract the contractor agrees to take a 
certain percentage of the whole amount in convict labor and agrees 
to use not less than a given number of men during the life of the 
contract. These convicts are furnished to the contractor at 10 cents 
per hour per man, the total for each month being deducted from 
the monthly payments of the contractor, the county thereby secur¬ 
ing the benefit of this deduction. In the first contract made, it 
was agreed to furnish the contractor all labor necessary for his 
work, but it was found that under this plan the labor was used 
uneconomically and wastefully. The rules now require that a con¬ 
tractor shall not use less than 30 per cent, nor to exceed 40 per cent, 
of the total contract in convict labor. We are, however, working 


CONVICT LABOR 


269 


away from this plan, that is, using convicts on contract work, finding 
that under the second plan, that of force account, we get better re¬ 
sults both for the county and for the convict. 

Should we decide to do the work by force account, the county 
road authorities agree first to have the work done under an engi¬ 
neer or superintendent appointed by the Highway Commissioner, 
who has complete charge of the whole work. They further agree 
to furnish all necessary teams, tools, machinery, materials, etc., 
necessary to economically and expeditiously carry on the work. 
They also agree to pay the superintendent and all necessary free 
labor, such as foremen, blacksmiths, etc., for it is not always pos¬ 
sible to get this class of labor from the convict body. We also 
require the county to provide such medical attendance as the pris¬ 
oners may require. The law requires that the prisoners shall be 
furnished by the Superintendent of the Penitentiary on the req¬ 
uisition of the Highway Commissioner. It further states that 
the Superintendent shall furnish a sergeant and the necessary guards 
to properly care for the men, stipulating, however, that the High¬ 
way Commissioners shall agree to the appointment of both ser¬ 
geants and guards, and that if at any time the Highway Commis¬ 
sioner should see fit, the Superintendent must remove any sergeant 
or guard unsatisfactory to him. It further stipulates that the High¬ 
way Commissioner and the Superintendent shall agree on the neces¬ 
sary rules and regulations for working the convicts. 

The Virginia convict road force is composed of all male convicts, 
who are considered safe by the Superintendent of the Penitentiary, 
and all male jail men over sixteen years of age, and this force, when 
placed on a county road or in a county quarry, is guarded, fed, 
clothed and transported at the expense of the State; this about 
equally divides the cost of the road work between the county and 
the State. 

A suitable camp site is selected with a view to proper drainage 
and a plentiful supply of good water; also that the men will not 
have to walk at any time exceeding two miles to or from their work. 
This is particularly important, since walking in gangs of ten to 
twenty is necessarily slow. The camps for the men are divided 
into a sleeping house, wide enough for a row of cots down each 
side, and an 8 foot passage way down the center, built to hold from 
fifty to eighty men. The men are supplied with all necessary bedding, 
etc., and in winter the building is heated with stoves. Next to 
this is the dining camp and at one end of this is the store room, 
kitchen and guards’ dining room. Facing these, and a little to the 
side, is a camp with two rooms, one for the sergeant and the other 
for the guards. All of these buildings have corrugated metal roofs, 
and canvas sides, and the sleeping quarters have wooden floors and 
are so constructed that they can be readily taken down and moved 
to new locations. In addition to the sergeant, there are from three 
to five guards, depending on the size of the camp. The pay of the 


270 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


sergeant at first is $50 per month and his board, which amount is 
gradually increased to $75 per month and board. This amount may 
be further increased by placing the sergeant in charge of the road 
construction. The pay of the guards begins at $25 per month and 
board, and may be increased to $35 and board. The guards are 
also required to supervise and direct the work of the men when called 
on to do so by the Superintendent, but with the class of men avail¬ 
able at the price, this has not been found practical. The salaries 
of the sergeants and guards constitute the heaviest cost of main¬ 
taining the State convict road force, and up to the present time we 
have not been able to devise any plan which will enable us to materi¬ 
ally reduce this cost. 

As a general thing, from three to five prisoners are kept in the 
camp to do the cooking, cleaning, washing, etc. The remaining 
men are divided into gangs of from four to twenty men, the worst 
class of the prisoners being placed under guard and worked in the 
quarries or gravel pits or on the grade. The trusties are sent off in 
small gangs to shape the road, spread stone, build culverts and head- 
walls and are used as blacksmiths, firemen, rollermen, drivers and 
water boys. The best men in the quarries and on the grade are 
trained as drill runners and enginemen and if their behavior war¬ 
rants it, are made into trusties and sent off on work not requiring a 
guard. 

The Legislature of 1906 appropriated $25,000 for the mainte¬ 
nance of the convict road force for eighteen months, and the last 
Legislature appropriated $145,000, together with the jail fees, which 
will give us about $180,000 for the maintenance of the force for 
1914. Since the organization of the Department, we have used con¬ 
victs in thirty-seven counties and at the present time we are main¬ 
taining camps in thirty-one counties, representing about eleven 
hundred convicts and five hundred jail men working on the roads 
of the State. It has cost the State during the past year to clothe, 
feed, guard and otherwise provide for this labor, approximately 
fifty-one cents per ten hour working day. It is quite impossible to 
compare convict labor with free labor unless you are working them 
side by side and under exactly the same conditions. I have heard 
a great deal said about the inefficiency of prison labor as compared 
with the same class of free labor, the usual argument being that you 
cannot expect to get the same results from men working under com¬ 
pulsion and without compensation and hope of advancement. 
From eight years’ experience, we are of the opinion that prison labor 
properly handled, that is, with intelligence and humanity, is just 
as satisfactory and efficient as any other class of common labor, 
with the additional advantage of being regular and under perfect 
control. You are in a position to train each man for his particular 
work and to derive an immediate benefit from that training. 

Now of course we get all classes of men sent to the roads, some 
whose physical condition is such that they are incapable of doing 


CONVICT LABOR 


271 


hard work; these are made into water boys, yard men, drivers, etc.— 
in other words, they are given such work as they are capable of 
doing. We have found that working prison labor on the roads is 
not without its drawbacks. In many sections of the State the 
work is light and it is not always advisable to string your men out as 
needed. Nor is it possible or economical with the funds in hand to 
employ a sufficient number of guards. Our experience has led us 
to believe that the most economical results can be obtained from 
prison labor working under guard, when that labor is concentrated 
and when it is worked near their headquarters. One thing is cer¬ 
tain—the use of prison labor on the roads in Virginia has quickened 
the demand for better roads and given an impetus to the move¬ 
ment that nothing else has ever done. So much, then, for the 
benefit accruing to the counties and the State from the use of this 
labor in improving her highways. 

The State realizes that its first duty is to improve both morally 
and physically this class of its citizens, and to send these back into 
the world better able to cope with its temptations, and we feel that 
road work is a move in the right direction. In dealing with this 
phase of the question, you must not lose sight of the fact that about 
75 per cent of the prison population of this State is negro, and that 
your problem is thus made doubly difficult. The prisoners in our 
road force are allowed a reduction in their term of imprisonment of 
four days each month for good behavior, and when they prove that 
they can be trusted and are competent, they are given more skilled 
employment. It is the endeavor of each sergeant to have as many 
trusties on his work as possible; these men are put on special work 
without guards, and are allowed special privileges. Should they, 
however, break the rules or regulations, they are, as a punishment, 
placed back under the guard. The men are well clothed and fed 
and generally well cared for—they live and work out of doors and 
while each man is required to do a full day’s work, they are never 
driven. There are a number of instances where the men on the 
completion of their sentence have been employed by contractors on 
the same work at good wages, and in many instances employed by 
farmers who live near the road work, and in this way they are kept 
away from their former haunts. One of the direct advantages 
to the convicts working in these camps, must be the training they 
receive in cleanliness and sanitary precautions of every kind. Con¬ 
sider that most of them are from the slums of cities, that few of 
them have ever received training of any sort in the proper care of 
themselves physically, and you cannot fail to realize how much 
they must gain from the practical lessons they receive in assist¬ 
ing in the locating and management of the camps. The careful 
choice of a site, the precautions taken in guarding the spring or well 
from which the water supply is obtained, the disposal of all sewage, 
the cleanliness of the kitchen and the utensils used and the isolation 
of any member of the camp suspected of any infectious disease— 


272 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


these are all points on which the State officers have expended much 
time and many thousands of dollars to bring forcibly home to their 
uneducated citizens, and in no way could a class most needing such 
education receive it more thoroughly or clearly than in a well ordered 
road camp. Another important advantage derived from working 
prison labor on public highways, is that it brings the average citi¬ 
zen in touch with the situation, thus giving him an entirely differ¬ 
ent point of view; he is able to see for himself that very few of the 
convicts are dangerous and that many of them, if given a chance, 
will make good citizens. Changes are undoubtedly needed in the 
management of our prison labor, but it is difficult to lay down any 
one rule and say that if you follow this you will get the best results 
for the men, and therefore for the State as a whole. 

The Superintendent of the Penitentiary proposes to make an ef¬ 
fort to get the Legislature of Virginia to provide an appropriation 
with which to pay each prisoner who obeys the rules five cents for 
each day’s work. This will amount to something like $15 per annum 
for each prisoner and it is proposed to pay that amount to the pris¬ 
oner on the completion of his sentence. This will permit the dis¬ 
charged prisoner to have a small amount of money to start with on 
his release, and it is to be hoped that some such law will be enacted 
at the next session of the Legislature, for according to our present law, 
the prisoners are discharged without help of any kind other than 
their transportation, except such as is voluntarily given by the ser¬ 
geant or men in charge of the road work. 

I would like, however, to suggest for your consideration, the 
following plan which could be followed to advantage in this State, 
that is, grouping your prison population into four classes: 

First. Long term and dangerous men. 

Second. Short term men. 

Third. Trusties. 

Fourth. Paroled men. 

The first class shall include all murderers and all prisoners whose 
records are known to be bad and all prisoners sentenced for third 
offences. 

These men are to be dressed in stripes and worked in stockades 
and under guard in State stone quarries. This material is to be 
supplied to the counties of the State to be used in the construction 
of their roads. It would, of course, be necessary to locate these 
quarries advantageously and with good transportation facilities. It 
would also be necessary to secure low transportation rates from the 
railroad companies to insure an economical distribution of the ma¬ 
terial. 

The second class, to be composed of short term men, men con¬ 
victed for the first time, and such men from class I as by experi¬ 
ence you would find that you could trust even a little, these men to 
be dressed in blue or brown and distributed throughout the State 
to the various county road camps and to be worked under guard in 
the grading and construction of the county roads. 


CONVICT LABOR IN COLORADO 


273 


The third class, to be composed of trusties, or, if you please, 
Honor men, and to be taken from class II, these men to wear an 
ordinary khaki suit and to be worked without guards and used as 
rollermen, enginemen, cooks, yardmen in the State and county 
camps, in small gangs to shape road and spread stone, in building 
concrete bridges, culverts and headwalls, and in every way made to 
feel that they are in places of trust and above all that they are being 
trusted. We have considered the matter of working prisoners in 
large forces, without guards, as is being done in some of the Western 
States, but have not yet been able to devise a plan which appeared 
feasible with the class of prisoners we have in our camps, though 
we may be able to do so later. 

The fourth class, paroled men. These men to be taken from class 
III and paroled for good behavior at some period of their sentence, 
I would suggest at the expiration of half of their time. These men 
to wear ordinary clothing and to be assigned to the maintenance 
department of the State or county, to be used as patrolmen on main¬ 
tenance of the roads or on such other maintenance work as may 
seem best. These men to be furnished with proper quarters and 
paid a monthly wage, and where practical, given a house and small 
plot of ground and urged to have their families with them, these 
men to be a regular part of the State or county's free labor road 
system, the only difference being that they shall be required to re¬ 
port monthly to some general head. 

The Chairman: The discussion on this paper was to have been 
opened by Mr. J. E. Maloney, State Highway Engineer of Colorado. 
Mr. Maloney is unable to be present but has sent his paper in, which 
will be read. 


CONVICT LABOR IN COLORADO 

James E. Maloney 

Secretary-Engineer State Highway Commission 

In discussing the very interesting paper of Mr. Coleman, to my mind, 
the question resolves into a general proposition for improving the 
condition of the prisoners, and at the same time performing some 
useful work for the State. 

In considering the question of convict labor, it is well to keep in 
mind these two propositions; one, the regeneration of the convict 
himself and his future welfare, and the other, the Financial benefit 
to the State. If it is possible to accomplish both of these points, 
then indeed, is the practice of working convicts on the roads, a 
benefit to both the State and the prisoners. 

The selection of the trusties and the placing of the men at the 
various tasks are functions which belong to the warden of the Pen¬ 
itentiary, who is in direct touch with the men, and through his 


274 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


study of human nature is enabled to pick out the men best suited 
for the different positions. 

In Colorado, in addition to the various tasks for the upkeep of 
the Institution, such as the laundry, hostlers, gardeners, etc., the 
State has a farm of several hundred acres, on which, during the 
summer season, many of the prisoners are employed. 

In addition to this, starting from the year 1899, the employment 
of the prisoners upon the State highways has been gradually ex¬ 
tended, until at this time our present warden, T. J. Tynan, has 
seven road camps at work in various parts of the State, employing 
an average of 250 prisoners in total at these seven camps. 

The first work in 1899 was done in the upper Arkansas River 
Valley, in the neighborhood of Buena Vista, under the bill intro¬ 
duced in the Legislature by Senator T. J. Ehrhart. In this year 
considerable work was also done in Fremont County by the con¬ 
victs. Later, in 1905, a bill was introduced by Senator Lewis, and 
another one in 1907 by Senator Barella, the latter bill providing for 
a convict built road from the New Mexico State line at the south, 
to the Wyoming State line on the north. The Lewis bill, is the one 
under which our convicts are now being successfully worked on the 
roads under the present administration. Copy of this bill follows: 

S. B. No. 224, by Senator Lewis. 

AN ACT 

Providing for the working of the convicts in Colorado State Penitentiary 
upon the public roads and highways within any county and upon the streets 
and alleys within the cities and incorporated towns located in the State of 
Colorado. 

Be it Enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Colorado. Section 1. 
Upon the written request of a majority of the board of county commissioners 
of any county in the State of Colorado, the Warden of the Colorado State 
Penitentiary, situated at Canon City, in Fremont County, shall detail such 
convicts as in his judgment shall deem proper, not exceeding the number 
specified in said written request, to work upon such public roads and highways 
of such county or streets and alleys of any city or incorporated town within 
such county as shall be designated in said written request of said county 
commissioners; Provided, That such county shall pay all additional expense 
of guarding said convicts while working upon said public roads and highways 
within such county, and shall furnish all tools and materials necessary in the 
performance of said work; And, Provided, That when said work is done within 
the limits of any city or incorporated town within such county, or city or 
incorporated town where said work shall be done shall likewise pay all addi¬ 
tional expenses of guarding such convicts while performing said work and 
shall furnish all necessary material used in said work. 

Section 2. Said convicts when employed under the provisions of Section 
1 of this act shall not be used for the purpose of building any bridge or struc¬ 
ture of like character which requires the employment of skilled labor. 

Section 3. The Board of Penitentiary Commissioners are hereby em¬ 
powered to adopt a special rule applicable solely to convicts employed on the 
public work herein authorized and contemplated, whereby convicts so em¬ 
ployed shall be granted additional good time allowance, conditioned upon 
their good behavior and cheerful compliance wdth all rules that may be made 
by said board or said superintendent for the management and control of 
convicts so employed. 


CONVICT LABOR IN COLORADO 275 

Section 4. All acts, or parts of acts, in conflict herewith are hereby 
repealed. 

Section 5. In the opinion of the General Assembly, an emergency exists; 
therefore, this act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage. 

Approved April 11, 1905. 

Work was started on the main State road from Trinidad to the 
New Mexico line, and finished in 1907 by Warden Cleghorn. The 
famous “Sky Line Drive” at Canon City was also completed under 
Mr. Cleghom’s administration, and the development of the system 
of working convicts without gun guards and solely upon honor was 
started by Mr. Cleghorn. Our present warden, T. J. Tynan, took 
charge of the work in 1909, and has extended and developed the 
system, until at this time it is one of the very successful adjuncts 
of the State system of road work. 

It has been stated by one of the superintendents of the convict 
camps, that “The use of this labor not only cheapens the construc¬ 
tion to the State, but takes the men out into God's sunshine, where 
the steady employment and wholesome life of the road camps are 
accomplishing wonders in arousing energy and ambition, and some 
of these men have never before realized that they were capable of 
doing an honest day's work. Prison labor has some disadvantages. 
The men from all walks of life are thrown together, and in most 
cases they have to be taught the use of the road builder's tools, but 
as the work progresses, the majority of them learn to take an inter¬ 
est and pride in their work.” 

The convict camps are made up of all nationalities and races, 
many Mexicans and negroes being among them. The desire to take 
advantage of the opportunities offered by the work upon the roads, 
is shown by all the prisoners, and the great majority of them soon 
exhibit a very keen interest in the work. All classes of crimes have 
been represented by the convicts worked upon the roads. It has 
not been found desirable or necessary to divide the convicts into 
classes, segregated according to the character of the crime, and if 
there is any division to be made between the prisoners, it should 
be based upon the individual characteristics of the prisoners, rather 
than upon the crime for which he has been convicted. 

The State does not pay the convicts any salary or per diem for 
their labor, but they receive credits, which enable the prisoner to 
cut his minimum sentence in half. Any attempt to escape or violate 
the established rules results in the loss of all credits, and instead 
of cutting his time practically in half, he has to serve his full maxi¬ 
mum sentence. There are no armed guards used in any of these 
camps, the men being placed entirely upon their honor, and I believe 
this is one reason for the very satisfactory results obtained by the 
present warden. If you use armed guards to restrain the prisoners 
from any attempt to escape, then why exact any promises from 
the men, but if you accept a promise from them, to the effect that 
they will not attempt to escape, then they should be trusted. Other- 


276 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


wise, the moral effect of their promise is absolutely lost. Under 
our present system, the attempts to escape have not been over 
1 per cent, and when 99 per cent of the men keep their word, it 
stamps the system as successful. 

The typical organization of the convict road camp is about as 
follows: 

The camp is under the charge of a superintendent, who is assisted 
by one, two or three foremen, as the size of the camp may require. 
These men are all the salaried officials there are connected with the 
camp. An average of 25 to 50 prisoners may be detailed to any 
one camp. In all of the camps of the State the quarters are pro¬ 
vided by the county and State Road Fund, as distinguished from 
the Penitentiary Fund. This equipment consists of wall tents of 
extra heavy canvas, with flies, and in case of winter quarters the 
walls of the tents being boarded and papered, and stoves provided. 
The men sleep in separate bunks in tents provided for that purpose, 
about 4 to 8 to a tent. There is a superintendent’s tent, necessary 
shelter for the stock, etc., and in fact, the equipment is the same 
as would be used by a contractor prosecuting the same piece of 
work, except that the men are better provided with shelter, clothes, 
and food. 

The sanitary conditions are looked after very carefully; the cleanli¬ 
ness of the camp, and the physical well-being of the men are espe¬ 
cially looked after by those in charge of the work. Sanitary pre¬ 
cautions and close inspection of the health of the men are points 
which are conducive to better work. 

The stock necessary for the hauling of supplies to the camp, or 
for working upon the roads is also supplied by the County and 
State Road Fund. An outfit for camp purposes may run from 
$1000 to $2000, not including the cost of the stock. Clothes for 
the prisoners are supplied by the Penitentiary. A prisoner’s trans¬ 
portation is furnished by the counties, except where a prisoner is 
returned to the Penitentiary for any infraction of the rules, or 
attempt to escape, in which case the Penitentiary stands the expense. 
No armed guards of any kind are used at any of Colorado’s con¬ 
vict camps. As a general rule, the night watchman is one of the 
prisoners. 

The pay of the superintendent runs from $100 to $125 per month. 
For assistant foremen, the salary runs from $75 to $90 per month. 

In the last two years the prisoners have constructed a total of 
about one hundred miles of road. 

Under the law, the control of the convicts is entirely in the hands 
of the warden and penitentiary officials, the supervisors and foremen 
being appointed by them, and this is, I believe, the proper method, 
as the prisoner is in the custody of the warden, and the warden is 
responsible for him during the term for which he is sentenced. 

The State Highway Commission has assisted the counties and 
prison officials in the establishment and employment of the road 


CONVICT LABOR IN COLORADO 


277 


camps by apportioning funds to the counties for the construction of 
certain pieces of the connecting State Highways, and enabling the 
counties to equip and maintain the camps. The position of the 
Highway Commission in connection with the convict road construc¬ 
tion is purely advisory; the matter of the engineering assistance 
and suggestions being made through the county commissioners, 
who are the active executives in dealing with the warden of the 
Penitentiary. 

In regard to the actual costs of maintenance for these camps, I 
submit the following statements, which include four camps, as 
follows: 

No. 1. Two camps for the season of 1913 and 1914; No. 3. One 
camp from June, 1913 to October, 1914; No. 4. One camp during 
1913 and 1914—total 24 months. 

In the first two camps during 1913 from October 1912 to July 1, 
1913, or ten months, the total cost was $6284.74 (equipment not 
included). The total number of days in that period of time was 
308. The total number of days worked was 248. The average cost 
of food per man per day was 31| cents; the average cost per man 
per day was 61J cents; this includes all salaries, repairs, stock feed, 
etc; and the average cost per man per day actually worked on the 
roads was 77 cents. The average number of men in camp for this 
time was 40, about eight of these being used about the camp. The 
average number of head of stock, 8; average cost per mile of road 
built, $2513.89; they having completed 2 \ miles of mountain side 
hill work, 16 feet in width. 

In this second camp for the season of 1914, or from August 1, 
1913, to September 1, 1914, being 13 months, inclusive, the total 
number of days was 396. The total number of days worked was 
296§. The average number of men, 33; the average number of head 
of stock, 6; the average cost per man per day for food was 37.6 cents, 
and the average total cost per man per day was 89.15 cents; the aver¬ 
age cost per mile, $3163.60, a total length of 3.67 miles having 
been finished during the season at a total cost of $11,613.96. The 
average cost per man per day actually at work on road, $1.50. 
This includes a drilling outfit, which cost $2000. 

The work consisted of mountain sidehill and some very heavy 
rock for about 1J miles; the balance was earth and loose rock, moder¬ 
ately heavy timber clearing; the roadway averaged 16 feet in width. 

In the third camp, the work started June 10, 1913 and extended 
to October 1, 1914 inclusive, making a total of 15 months. During 
this time some 6| miles has been completed, at a total cost of 
$29,164.38. This includes about $1800 for a portable drilling plant, 
and gives an average cost of $4487 per mile. Of this work about 
4 miles is in heavy rock work, and about 1J miles in heavy earth 
and gravel, and 1 mile of light earth work. 

In the next camp the convicts have been at work for the past 
four seasons, and their work is mostly in open prairie country, and 


278 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


has consisted of a great deal of work with blade graders and trac¬ 
tion engine haul for the graders, and also horse haulage for the 
dirt, and the grading and scraping machines. The average number 
of men employed has been 25; the average number of horses employed 
has been 16; the total miles of road improved has been 94; the total 
number of bridges and culverts built by the convicts was 60; and 
the total miles surfaced, 61. The average cost of this work to the 
county for the past four seasons has been approximately $1150 
per mile, including bridges and culverts. 

In estimating the comparative value of the convict labor as against 
the free labor, it would be essential to have the yardage moved and 
to have the classification of material. As in the case where the 
counties do their work by day labor, the engineer does not always 
cross-section the work, simply placing the center and grade stakes 
for the use of the superintendent, and an occasional cross-section 
stake, giving the width and general outline. 

This, however, is not sufficient to fully calculate the yardage on 
any of these pieces of work. A comparative idea may be had by 
the actual cost of labor per day per man actually at work on the 
road. This runs from 77 cents to $1.50 per day; and having this 
figure prepare the relative efficiency of the labor as between the 
prisoner and the ordinary road laborer. I believe this work of the 
prisoners will show an average saving of about 25 per cent for the 
conditions under which they have been worked in this State. In 
some cases a much larger saving than this is shown, and in other 
cases the saving is smaller. In starting an outfit for this kind of 
labor many drawbacks will be encountered at the beginning, espe¬ 
cially in the selection of men to superintend the camp, and this is 
an important position, but once started they can be kept running 
smoothly. 

In conclusion, I can say that our experience with this method of 
employment for the prisoners committed to the Penitentiary or 
Reformatory, has been entirely satisfactory. 

The Chairman: Mr. E. R. Morgan, State Road Engineer of 
Utah, will continue the discussion on this paper. 

Mr. Morgan: You, no doubt, have observed that in Mr. Cole¬ 
man’s opinion the use of convict labor has two main purposes, 
namely, the utilization of their energy from an economic point of 
view, and the uplift of the prisoner from a humanitarian point of 
view. The fundamental conception of the problem will likely be 
accepted by all. Using it as a basis, the conclusion is justified that 
the system, which has been in use in Virginia and is yet, at least to 
some extent, is not an efficient one, as it must be apparent that a 
contractor is chiefly concerned with the economic phase of the ques¬ 
tion. It is probably true that whatever consideration the question 
of benefit to the prisoner receives from the contractor is incidental, 


DISCUSSION 


279 


and contingent upon the pecuniary benefit he is to get from the use 
of the convict’s energy. 

Convict labor must be entirely in the control of the State or the 
county concerned, and used exclusively for the benefit of such com¬ 
munity, and the convicts. The intention of the officials of the 
State of Virginia to obtain a monetary consideration for the con¬ 
victs is commendable for, no doubt, even a small sum of money at 
the expiration of their terms would tend to prevent their committing 
further crimes during the period in which they should be endeavoring 
to place themselves on a self-sustaining basis. The amount of money 
set aside from the funds of a community, county or other political 
sub-division on account of services performed by convicts, should 
be materially increased; part of it to be retained by the State for 
expenses of prosecution, keep, etc.; part to be paid to the dependents 
rendered so by the crimes committed by the respective prisoners; 
and the remainder to be paid to the prisoners at the expiration of 
their sentences. 

As mentioned by Mr. Coleman, there is no doubt that convict 
labor can be more advantageously prosecuted if the convicts are 
properly classified. The classification, however, in my opinion, 
should be made with reference to the character of the men; if work¬ 
ing in separate camps and with reference to the kind of service they 
are capable of giving, if laboring in the same camp. 

Utah is yet struggling with the A B C’s of convict labor. Never¬ 
theless, I believe that to note what we have done in this matter will 
be helpful in the discussion of the question. 

The Legislature of Utah in 1909 enacted a law, which provided 
that prisoners in the State prison may be required to work on the 
roads under regulations made by the State Board of Corrections. 
Boards of County Commissioners wishing the services of the con¬ 
victs were required to make application for them to operate them 
under the State Board of Corrections without financial assistance 
from the State for their subsistance while at work. Convict labor 
on the roads in Utah was hitherto untried, and the results were 
unknown. The inducements by the law for the use of convicts 
on the roads were thought to be small, and therefore, the law failed. 
In 1911, the Legislature enacted a law giving the State Road Com¬ 
mission, and the State Board of Corrections control of convict labor 
on State roads. The supervision of the work was given to the State 
Road Commission. Power was granted to the State Board of Par¬ 
dons to give privileges to convicts who perform service upon roads, 
public buildings or grounds, especially a reduction of sentence, con¬ 
ditioned upon their good behavior and efficient service while so 
employed. Twenty thousand dollars was appropriated for the use 
of the warden in the purchase of camp equipment and supplies, 
paying for the service of extra guards, and the transportation of 
men and camp equipment. There was also appropriated for the 
use of the State Road Commission the sum of $40,000 for the pur¬ 
chase of construction equipment. 


2S0 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


In May and June of 1911, the State Road Commission purchased 
equipment amounting to about $15,000, and work was commenced 
in July. The work undertaken was a macadam road in Box Elder 
County. Between 40 and 50 convicts were employed on the road. 
They were directed by a construction superintendent who was 
assisted by 4 guards. The road was first graded, cobble stones were 
gathered from the adjacent hillsides, crushed and delivered on to 
the road by teams, spread, rolled and sprinkled, after which the 
drains were made. From this statement, it will be seen that a 
variety of service was rendered, some of which was skilled. There 
were built 2.5 miles of road at a cost of about $2000 per mile. For 
camp purposes in this work, the use of a 5-acre tract of land was 
obtained. The kitchen, dining and sleeping tents were enclosed 
in a stockade made by building a barbed wire fence, 10 feet high, 
around a 125-foot square. The wire was spaced 4 inches. The 
prisoners were guarded day and night. Each line of fence forming 
the enclosure was illuminated at night by carbide lights. During 
the operations of this camp, two men escaped from the enclosure 
but were recaptured. 

In December, 1911, about 20 trusties were taken to Washington 
County and worked until about the middle of the following April, 
during which time, they were not guarded closely and no man tried 
to escape. This is mentioned in order that the progress in convict 
management may be noted. 

In August, 1913, the State Road Commission more than doubled 
its construction equipment. The convict camp was enlarged to 
about 70 men, and the construction of the concrete road undertaken. 

The population at the Utah State Prison varies between 275 and 
300 men. About 40 of these are working outside the prison walls, 
on the grounds and farm. In order to obtain 70 other men who 
could be trusted and who were capable of performing the desired 
service, considerable care and judgment was required. A number 
of long term men including murderers, burglars, and holdups were 
selected. At the camp, the dining, sleeping and kitchen tents were 
located within a square surrounded by a single smooth wire which 
was illuminated at night by carbide lights at diagonal corners. For 
the safety of the prisoners, a head guard was made responsible. He 
was assisted at night by 4 guards. The prisoners were guarded and 
directed in their work during the day by 4 other guards, who in turn 
were directed by the head guard and the construction superinten¬ 
dent. The double headed organization is notable and objectionable 
from the standpoint of expense, but it is nevertheless difficult to 
obtain guards with construction ability or construction superin¬ 
tendents who will assume the responsibility of convict camp discipline. 

Material and supplies were hauled from Salt Lake City to the 
road by convicts a distance of 6 or 7 miles without an accompanying 
guard, so it will be seen that considerable freedom was allowed the 
prisoners. 


DISCUSSION 


281 


About 4 miles of concrete road 16 feet wide and 7 inches thick 
were constructed. The road which has been built has cost about 
S8000 per mile. Prison labor has lessened the cost per mile from 
$1500 to $2000. 

The State Board of Pardons authorized the warden to allow a 
commutation of sentence of 10 days for every 30 days the prisoner 
spends at the road camp regardless of whether he is sick or whether 
the weather conditions will permit of the work being prosecuted, 
conditioned, however, upon the faithful observance of camp rules. 
During the time they have been employed, 8 have escaped from 
camp, 5 of which have been recaptured, a very enviable record from 
a purely prison management point of view. 

At camp, after working hours, on Sunday and holidays, they are 
permitted to play ball, pitch horseshoes, or engage in other recre¬ 
ative exercises. About 20 good magazines are furnished regularly 
for the use of the camp. Daily papers are allowed, but not furnished. 

The camp at present is provided with bathing facilities so that 
every man may bathe daily if he wishes and must do so at regular 
intervals. 

The attitude of the guards toward the men is kind, and consider¬ 
ate. No guard is allowed to use profanity when addressing a con¬ 
vict. The guards and the construction superintendent instruct the 
men as to how to perform the required service in a considerate 
manner, which instruction is received generally in the same spirit 
that it is given. 

They are fed plainly but substantially. The general attitude of 
the men toward the work in hand and the conditions generally sur¬ 
rounding them is good. They frequently manifest interest in the 
work and rarely does discontent spread beyond a few. 

As an example of discontent and discipline, the following was 
recently observed. A number of teams were grading. One of the 
drivers, a convict, stopped his team and refused to proceed. The 
guard in charge directed the other men to drive their teams around 
his. This was done for a considerable period of time, after which 
the disgruntled one resumed his work without further remark from 
the guard. Had the convict persisted in his stubborn attitude, he, 
no doubt, would have been returned to the prison, a thing most 
dreaded by one privileged to perform road work. 

As examples of interest in the work, the following is mentioned: 
The prisoner operating a self-propelling street paver on the concrete 
road, who by the way was incarcerated for taking the part of a high¬ 
wayman, was asked how he was getting along. The reply was, 
“all right except my engine is pounding considerably. I will fix 
it during part of my noon hour.” The concrete mixer man on the 
same job was observed, without his knowledge, to shake his head 
regretfully when he discharged from the mixer a batch of poorly 
mixed concrete. General remarks concerning the day’s work are 
heard from time to time expressing regret and satisfaction according 
to what was accomplished. 


282 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


These facts are very important from a humanitarian point of view 
and cannot be disregarded when pure economics are being considered. 

Mr. Atkinson (of Louisiana): I would like to ask one question; 
who was in direct charge of these convicts while at work? Who 
has the direct supervision and control? 

Mr. Coleman: The representative of the Highway Department, 
the superintendent or the engineer appointed by the Commission 
has full control. 

Mr. Atkinson : And the captain and guards are under his orders 
and instructions? 

Mr. Coleman: Yes. 

Mr. Atkinson: I want to say that we worked convicts in Louisi¬ 
ana a year and a half or two years, but the captains and guards 
were employed by the Board of Control and the engineer in charge 
did not have direct control of them, yet, we got along nicely and 
did good work; in fact our work cost us under the convict system 
about 50 per cent or not over 75 per cent, of single work under 
contract, and it has been proven to my mind that the system of 
working convicts on road work is very successful and is a very 
economical way of building roads. Now the cost to maintain these 
convicts in Louisiana was about 41 cents per man per day; that 
includes the maintenance of convicts and the guards’ salaries and 
the captain’s salary. The reason I asked about who had charge 
and full control of the convicts is that I believe we could have gotten 
better results if the Engineering Department had full control of 
convicts. For instance, the captain may have 3 or 4 flunkeys to 
wait on him and members of the guard would have 3 or 4 flunkeys 
and out of 40 or 50 men there may be 10 or 15 idle to act as flunkeys, 
but nevertheless under the system we have it has been proven to 
my mind that the convicts can be worked very successfully on road 
work. 

The Chairman: Mr. Johnson of Roswell, New Mexico. 

Mr. Johnson: Mr. Chairman and Fellow Highwaymen: I am not 
a highway engineer or road commissioner but I have a bond of 
relation to these brethren. You heard yesterday of the system of 
county roads at Charlotte and in Mecklenburg County, North 
Carolina. My wife’s father was the chairman of the Board of Road 
Commissioners of Mecklenburg County for 30 years and built the 
first mile of their macadam road, which was the first mile of macadam 
road built in the South, so while I have no claim to a relationship 
directly, I have by marriage. I am a minister of the gospel; forced 


DISCUSSION 


283 


some years ago to give up the work of an active city pastorate in 
Chicago by a nervous breakdown and compelled to live outdoors. 
I found more outdoors in New Mexico than anywhere else and have 
lived there for the last several years, and being unable to take up 
the active work of a pastorate, I have given the most of my energies 
to promoting the gospel of good roads. We have called upon the 
United States government to help us out of the mud. We have 
appealed to the boys and girls of our high schools to help us. We 
are now getting the cooperation of the ladies and I tell you it is time 
to ask the ministers and priests of this country to enlist in this 
campaign for good roads. Does not the Good Book say to make 
the crooked straight and the high places low and the low places high 
and to make smooth the way of the Lord? It is time that we inter¬ 
preted that rightly. Does it not say that we live and move and have 
our being in Him? Well, the moving is pretty tough in some places 
and therefore good roads have a great deal to do with religion. 
I want to speak in support of two of the resolutions adopted here 
today and in the first place I want to show you some apples. These 
apples were grown a few miles west of Roswell, New Mexico, in the 
White Mountains, at an elevation of 5750 feet. It is 25 miles from 
the orchard to the nearest shipping point. The United States gov¬ 
ernment has established the Lincoln National Forest there, has with¬ 
drawn the area from settlement and it is impossible for us to tax 
it to build roads, and those apples have to be hauled most of the 
25 miles over federalized areas. Now I am feeding apples like 
these to the hogs out in Lincoln County, because the United States 
government has not thus far lifted a finger to improve the roads 
across its own land. Federal aid in our county means something, 
but it does not mean what it means in this convention. It means 
that we frontiersmen out in New Mexico have to aid the United 
States government to make the roads. Last summer I took my car 
and three men and went and fixed the impossible places on Uncle 
Sam’s domain in the Lincoln National Forest on my way to my 
market and shipping point, and I then went over to the next county 
—I am set behind and before by the government; on one side is this 
Lincoln National Forest and on the other the Indian reservation— 
and I went over to O’Terrell County and asked the National Com¬ 
missioner if they would fix up the worst places on the Indian reser¬ 
vation. It is the worst piece of road on the Southern National 
Highway which crosses it from here clear across to Santiago, and 
we have been trying for two years to get the government to appro¬ 
priate the money to fix that road and they would not do it. So 
I went over to O’Terrell County got SI000 of their county road 
tax and fixed that place on Uncle Sam’s Indian reservation. . That 
is federal aid in my county. You have adopted a resolution in 
which you have joined us in trying to get the United States govern¬ 
ment to fix up the federalized areas. There are over 200,000,000 
acres of land withdrawn from settlement in the United States, mostly 


284 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


in the West, for Indian reservations, forest reserves and other federal 
purposes. You can go halfway across the 350 miles east and west 
across New Mexico, on those federalized areas, and two-thirds of 
the way across the State of Arizona on them, and if you take the 
map of the United States and look at those colored areas which 
show you how much of the great West has been withdrawn from 
entry for federal purposes, you will see that the adoption of that 
resolution, if it is carried into effect, will mean the building of thou¬ 
sands of miles of road that are needed on these great through routes 
to get yonder to the Pacific Coast and on to the wonderland of 
America, and I want you, when you go home, to take these resolu¬ 
tions, blue pencil them and send them to your representative in 
Washington and ask them to help us to develop the great West 
by getting appropriations to build those roads. There is another 
point I want to emphasize in this stretch of five minutes; I listened 
here to that magnificent address of Senator Hoke Smith; I listened to 
that splendid address of the President of the Southern Railway 
pleading for the market roads from the farm to the nearest market 
or shipping point; gentlemen, that is true of one-half of the United 
States, but you may draw a line from Winnipeg down to Bismark, 
North Dakota, North Platte, Nebraska; Amarillo, Texas; and San 
Antonio to Corpus Christi, and your map will show you that one- 
half the area of the United States lies west of that line and the 
other half east. You can call the eastern half the leaky half of the 
United States, because it rains so much and agriculture is the main 
interest; but the western part is the arid or semi-arid West. There 
are indeed exceptions, there are magnificent valleys like the one 
in which Roswell is located, with its 600 artesian wells. We have, 
intensive cultivation of the soil, vast alfalfa fields, orchards of apples 
like these, 40 miles long and a dozen miles wide, but speaking gen¬ 
erally, about one-half of the United States depends on mining, upon 
the live stock industry and upon the presence of the health seekers 
and the tourists for its prosperity. That happens to be that great 
West and we are vitally interested in these great through routes 
that will open up the lines of communication between the older part 
of the country that we call our home. We want these through routes 
that the people may come and see and get well and help us develop 
the magnificent boundless resources of our great West. We say 
that the United States is looking at this proposition with one eye 
when it ought to look at it with both eyes. When we find that the 
United States Office of Public Roads is simply a branch of the Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture, we say that the Office of Public Roads should 
be a department by itself and we should have the through routes 
that are as essential to the development of our great country as it 
is that the farmer should have his. We want you to have your 
roads, that is the thing for Georgia and Iowa and the farming States, 
but we want you to help us to get our roads that are vital to the 
development of our country. Gentlemen I thank you. 


DISCUSSION 


285 


The Chairman: The Committee on Resolutions desire to make 
a report, after which we will take a recess until 2 p.m. 

Mr. W. Tom Winn, Chairman of the Committee on Resolutions, 
presented the following resolutions which were, on motion, adopted. 

FEDERAL COOPERATION 

Resolved, That the American Road Congress emphatically endorse 
the principle of federal cooperation toward the construction of 
main highways and thus assist the several States to build the main 
market roads in the one-half of the country which is devoted to 
agriculture—and to build through main roads in the one-half of the 
country which is not predominantly agricultural, but whose pros¬ 
perity depends upon mining, the raising of live stock, and the pres¬ 
ence of the health seeker and tourist. 

STATE HIGHWAY COMMISSIONS 

Whereas, The American Road Congress believes in and has long 
urged all States to enact uniform road legislation, and 

Whereas, Experience has abundantly demonstrated that effici¬ 
ency and economy are not obtained in the construction and upkeep 
of main roads, except by the cooperation of the States through skilled 
departments, and 

Whereas, Forty of the forty-eight States have enacted State 
legislation; Georgia, Indiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tenn¬ 
essee, Arkansas, Florida and Texas, being the exceptions, and 

Whereas, Federal aid and cooperation is near at hand, and it is 
probable that States having no highway departments will be unable 
to participate in such aid, therefore be it, 

Resolved, That the American Road Congress in annual convention 
assembled in the city of Atlanta embracing several thousand dele¬ 
gates representing every State, reaffirm its belief that State Road 
Departments and State Aid are essential to secure efficiency and 
economy, and be it further 

Resolved, That copies of these resolutions be sent to the governors 
of all States and to their various highway officials and that they be 
urged to promptly commend such laws to the legislatures in their 
respective States. 


LINCOLN HIGHWAY 

Resolved, That the Lincoln Highway Association be commended 
for its successful voluntary effort in arranging with counties, cities 
and townships for a connected series of roads across the United 
States, thus providing a definite and continuous route to be used 
wholly or in part by those who wish to become acquainted with the 
agricultural, mining and scenic advantages of their own land. 


286 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


PUBLIC SAFETY 

Resolved, That the American Road Congress deplore the frequent 
accidents on the public highways and urge upon the various highway 
officials or other authorities throughout the United States the enact¬ 
ment of the necessary rules and regulations to insure the public 
safety. 

ROADS IN FEDERAL RESERVATIONS 

Resolved, That the federal government be urged to build high¬ 
ways across all Indian and forest reservations and all other feder¬ 
alized areas, where such connecting links are essential parts of 
established through routes of travel. 

COURTESIES 

Resolved, That the sincere thanks of the American Road Congress 
be extended to the State of Georgia, the county of Fulton, the city 
of Atlanta and to the public press for their active cooperation, gen¬ 
erous hospitality, and assistance generally in making this the most 
successful Road Congress. 

November 12, 2 P. M. 

Dr. Joseph Hyde Pratt, Chairman 

The Chairman: The first paper on the program this afternoon 
is “Road Work by the Army,” by Major Amos A. Fries, U.S.A. 

ROAD WORK BY THE ARMY 

Major Amos A. Fries 
Corps of Engineers, U.S.A. 

This subject might be construed in two different ways; first, by 
the builder, as referring to the construction of roads, and second, 
by the man on foot, as referring to the use made of the roads. This 
last view is the one army men will appreciate most. To the weary 
soldier carrying his bed, board, and weapons, the road he is travel¬ 
ling over is a matter of supreme importance. This importance 
arises both from a consideration of his own personal comfort, and 
from his ability or inability, as the case may be, to get into a favor¬ 
able position for battle. . 

Rapid marching has saved the lives of many soldiers, and won 
many battles. Napoleon in his many campaigns was the first great 
exemplar of this fact, and an able example of it in our own day was 
Stonewall Jackson’s Shenandoah Valley campaign in 1862. Indeed, 
the Civil War furnished many examples of rapid marches that vitally 
influenced the fortunes of battles. 


ROAD WORK BY THE ARMY 


287 


And just recently we have had some very brilliant exhibitions of 
rapid marching in the European War now in progress. The advance 
of the Germans through Belgium almost to the gates of Paris, as 
well as their later retreat to the line now held by them furnished 
a brilliant example of two things: thorough preparation beforehand, 
and the rapid movement of very large armies. This was true not 
only of the German armies, but of the French, English and Belgians, 
both in retreat and on the offensive. 

Without good roads such rapid movements of vast armies would 
have been impossible. And thus again we see another example of 
how the arts of peace aid in the prosecution of war, or perhaps we 
ought to put it the other way, how the arts of war make for comfort 
in peace. Why? Because the first great builders of roads—the 
Romans—developed the art for the very purpose of moving their 
armies rapidly to any threatened frontier, and it was from them 
that the English, French and Germans got their first lessons, and 
their inspiration for good roads. And here we come to a truth 
that all we universal peace advocates—which all true army men 
are—must bear in mind, that is, that almost every art that makes 
for progress and comfort in peace has its uses in war. This is as 
true of powder as of roads, of tempered steel as of the clothing we 
wear on our backs. And until we can persuade the other fellow to 
abandon all thought of their use for war, we must continue to plan 
and prepare to use them ourselves in self defense, or else bow to the 
man who does use them for war purposes. Perhaps you think the 
statement that all true army men are for universal peace a case of 
poetic license, but most assuredly it is not. 

The most advanced teachers who are fighting the vices that cor¬ 
rupt and kill, including the use of alcoholic liquors, depend upon 
instilling into the mind, particularly of the young, the horrors of 
succumbing to the vices they are attacking. Is it any wonder 
then that the army man with a loving wife and children is for peace, 
when all his study and observation impress upon him the hell that 
war is. But slavery, to an independent man, is a worse hell than 
war, and so the army man prepares for war hoping it may never 
come, but with the feeling that if the time should come when his 
country’s freedom is menaced he can strike a telling blow for home 
and fireside. 

This is a good deal of a digression from “ Road Work in the Army,” 
yet we all need once in a while to stop and realize how much our 
works built during peace for peaceful purposes will aid us to repel 
aggression in war, providing we are prepared for war, or if we are not 
prepared how much the same works may aid an enemy in over¬ 
coming us. 

Road work in the army! No attempt will be made to outline the 
history of such work, as this was done in an able manner by Colonel 
Spencer Cosby, of the Corps of Engineers, in an address delivered 
before the Second American Road Congress, held at Atlantic City, 


288 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


New Jersey, October 4, 1912, and published in the proceedings of 
that Congress, and in the Professional Memoirs, Corps of Engineers, 
U. S. Army, for July and August, 1914. 

Briefly then, the army, and particularly the Corps of Engineers, 
has been engaged upon various classes of road work from the very 
beginning of our national life. These roads have varied from the 
crudest trails constructed under fire in the presence of the enemy 
to some of the finest roads and streets constructed anywhere in 
the country. Roads built by army men are found all over the 
United States, and our foreign possessions—in the tropics, in Cuba, 
the Philippines and Panama, in the frozen North in Alaska, in the 
lowlands of our coast, and in the mountains of Yellowstone Park. 

As the writer is at present in charge of road work in Yellowstone 
Park it is believed a brief discussion of that work will prove inter¬ 
esting, since the conditions of work are unique, due to the high 
altitude of the park, and its location in the midst of the Rocky 
Mountains right in the path of the storms that, starting from Alaska 
sweep first southward, and thence eastward across the United States, 
only to disappear in the storm-lashed Atlantic. 

To begin with, there are the tourists—God bless them—who 
alone make roads in the park a necessity, and who are, to say the 
least, an awful nuisance to working parties, and the cause of a great 
increase in cost in many classes of construction. This arises from 
the fact that the best, and in many cases, about the only work¬ 
ing season, coincides with the tourist season. Then too, there are 
no automobiles, no railroads and no trolleys to facilitate and cheapen 
the supply and distribution of materials, and for hauling away 
excavated material of all kinds. Here the horse is supreme! mules, 
even, being rare. 

Every State has its own problems in road construction, as is 
proper, but Yellowstone Park, being a national institution, would 
appear to have them all, which, while it may be proper all right, 
is most disconcerting to the engineer trying to build and maintain 
roads. Since without money there would be no road problems, and 
since Congress is the source from which money for Yellowstone 
Park comes, we will begin there. 

The Congressional problem arises from fiscal year appropriations; 
that is, the money becomes available July 1st, if appropriated be¬ 
fore that date, and if not, then, from the date of the appropriation, 
and must be spent by June 30th the following year or revert to the 
Treasury. Under ordinary circumstances a year is a year whether 
beginning in January or July, but circumstances, like everything 
else in the park, are extraordinary. There are few places where 
4 feet of snow will fall in three or four days only to be washed away 
by 24 to 36 hours of violent thunder showers, and yet that is what 
happened September 12 to 20, this year. 

One year the spring will be early, and work can be begun over 
most of the park in May and last into November, and the next work 


ROAD WORK BY THE ARMY 


289 


can only be carried on at a few places before June 30, and may be 
stopped entirely early in October. At the best the winters are 
long and cold, and thus the second problem is what really makes a 
problem of fiscal year appropriations. Where work can be carried 
on for six months one year and only three the next one needs to be 
an Isaiah to tell what to do. If, as occasionally happens, the appro¬ 
priation is made later than July 1st, the season is shortened just 
that much more. That was what happened this year, the season 
being shortened almost six weeks, and it has been even worse on some 
previous occasions. 

If appropriations were made available until spent the amounts 
unexpended during a short season could be carried over into a longer 
one with great economy. As it is now, the engineer must push 
work in short seasons in bad weather when highly efficient work is 
impossible, or else turn most of his appropriation back. 

Once again, the winters are long and hard, and are usually ac¬ 
companied with very heavy snow-fall over nearly all portions of the 
park. In the higher altitudes the ground begins to freeze the last of 
September, and is often not completely thawed out until late in June 
of the following year. 

As in all mountain roads grades are fairly frequent, and while 
kept to the minimum in the park there are quite a number of 6 and 
8 per cent ones, with many of lesser degree. Due to the heavy 
freighting in the fall and again early in the spring the snow in the 
middle of the road is packed down and melted first, thus causing 
most of the water to run down the middle of the road—a frequent 
cause of serious injury to the natural soil surfaces that predominate 
throughout the park. 

The tourist season lasts from June 15 to September 20, and this 
corresponds to the best working season, and in many years to the 
entire working season. The travel is heavy even in poor years, 
which naturally interferes greatly with the improvement of existing 
roads. For instance, every bridge rebuilt requires that it be con¬ 
structed at a site different from the old one, or else that a temporary 
bridge be built so teams can get around it. In fact, all road work 
must be carried on so as not to interfere with the tourist coaches, 
and since only horses are used, and many grades are steep, with deep 
canyons on one side, and mountains or walls of rock on the other, 
extreme care must be used with all machinery and tools that might 
frighten the animals. In most places this means night work with 
road rollers and similar machinery, or the abandonment altogether 
of their use. 

Tourists make park roads necessary, and they being mostly natural 
born Americans have the right to kick if things are not satisfactory, 
and many avail themselves of the opportunity. It was for this 
reason that some years ago the government began sprinkling the 
main traveled roads, and of course once begun it has had to be con¬ 
tinued. And it is right too, but nevertheless it is quite a problem 


290 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


to sprinkle 100 to 130 miles of roads, and do it efficiently on $15,000 
to $18,000 per year. 

If anyone doubts the propriety of sprinkling let him follow a 
long line of coaches over some hill that is not sprinkled, and if he isn't 
converted it can only be because he is so optimistic or angelic that 
his days on earth are numbered. 

Oil has been under consideration as a dust preventive for some 
time, and has been tried a little the past summer, but arrange¬ 
ments to do the oiling were completed very late and only 3 miles of 
road were oiled. That 3 miles, however, indicated quite clearly 
that results will not justify the cost unless the roads are shaped and 
rolled hard just before oiling. Early next spring some gravel mac¬ 
adam will be given an oil and broken stone finish so as to form 
an oil macadam by the penetration process. 

As discussed later the high cost of freight, both outside the park 
by rail, and inside the park by animal drawn freight wagons makes 
oiling very expensive as a general proposition. And as if cold weather 
late in the spring and early in the fall were not bad enough the 
rapid evaporation caused by an atmospheric pressure of about 11 \ 
pounds per square inch reduces penetration, and may make advis¬ 
able the use of a lighter oil than has been found best for road work 
in localities comparatively near sea level. There is no doubt that 
oil will work successfully on roads in the park, though experiment 
alone will determine the best kind of oil to use. 

As found out in other localities oil on any but macadam of some 
sort is at best only a temporary expedient, and this brings us to 
another serious park road problem. 

The ancient mariner sang: “Water, water everywhere and not a 
drop to drink," but the park engineer sighs and says: “Rock, rock 
everywhere and hardly a stone fit for road surfacing." This is 
scarcely conceivable in the heart of the Rockies, but it is a sad truth 
nevertheless. There are long stretches of road where no good rock 
is found, and where reasonably good gravel is almost unknown. 
On the other hand, there are a few places where there are unlimited 
amounts of good stone, but without power vehicles of some sort the 
cost of freighting metal more than a couple of miles is prohibitive. 

The next problem is the large force of engineers, overseers, la¬ 
borers and teams and the excessive amount of plant required, con¬ 
sidering the funds available, all caused by a very short working 
season. Every construction engineer knows that a new crew works 
at barely 50 per cent efficiency for the first week or two, and if the 
crew puts in only seven or eight weeks the cost takes another jump. 
Furthermore, unless wages considerably above those ordinarily 
paid outside are offered few good men can be induced to come into 
the park, and up goes the cost another notch. 

The park proper is almost three times as large as the State of 
Rhode Island, and has very nearly 300 miles of roads, of which 
265 may be called main lines. Besides these there are approxi- 


HOAD WORK BY THE ARMY 


291 


mately 100 miles of roads in the Forest Reserve east and south of 
the park that are more or less improved, and maintained as a part 
of the park system. 

Supervision becomes a serious problem, and as the appropria¬ 
tions allow of the carrying over of only a small force through the 
long winters second grade foremen and overseers must be taken, 
or considerably higher wages than those paid elsewhere must be 
offered as an inducement to good men to come for the summer, 
and even then the lack of steady employment deters the great 
majority. 

As previously stated, nearly all machinery is handled by teams, 
and as there is neither forage nor food to be had in the park all 
men and animals must be subsisted, and as freight is slow and ex¬ 
pensive the question of supply alone is a very live issue. The govern¬ 
ment freight rate in the park is 26.8 cents per ton mile, and as the 
average distance from railroad connections to working points is 
50 miles the cost for freight alone on materials, food products and 
forage used in the park is approximately $13.40 per ton. Rail¬ 
road freight rates outside the park are high, due partly to the lack 
of both rail and water competition, but more to the distance of the 
park from centers of manufacture and commerce, the least distance 
to such centers being about 1000 miles. 

As mentioned briefly early in this article the exclusive use of ani¬ 
mal transportation in the park has made the use of gasoline or 
steam driven machinery difficult, and except for minor items the use 
of power driven machinery and vehicles during the tourist season 
has to be confined to the night time. While this increases the 
cost somewhat it is the belief of the writer that the use of such 
machinery and vehicles should be increased, even if all have to be 
operated at night. 

Unless motor-propelled vehicles are allowed in the park the cost 
of freighting cannot be materially reduced, and this brings up an¬ 
other question of great interest to the general public and to those 
engaged in the business of feeding and transporting tourists in the 
park—that is—whether automobiles shall be allowed to use the park, 
or whether it shall continue to be kept exclusively for the use of 
animal drawn vehicles. As this is not an engineering question it 
will not be gone into further than to say that there are strong argu¬ 
ments on both sides, as anyone will find who studies the question 
deeply. 

The original idea of the park was to keep it as nearly in its natural 
state as possible, and many feel that motor propelled vehicles would 
aid in destroying this primitive condition. On the other hand, 
there is greater speed and comfort in traveling in automobiles, 
besides the possibility of accommodating a greater number of tour¬ 
ists. However, it is questionable whether the decreased cost in 
transportation by automobiles over that for animal drawn vehicles 
will be a great inducement to the traveling public, since the greatest 


292 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


cost to the average tourist is the railroad expenses incurred in going 
to and returning from the park. 

The total spent on the roads in the park is $2,425,315.00, of which 
less then $3,500 per mile is for construction, the remainder being for 
maintenance. As park work began over thirty years ago, and as 
the roads have been kept open for traffic all that time the cost is 
reasonable for the character of the country through which the roads 
have been constructed. There are a number of difficult sections 
where the cost per mile has been many times the average, this of 
course being made up for in less difficult country. Another factor 
that must be kept in mine is that the appropriations at first were 
very small, and in order to build roads to reach the different points 
of interest they had to be built in the cheapest manner, which usually 
consisted in cutting out trees and brush, removing boulders and 
building bridges. Grades are often very steep, and when money 
became available for better construction these earlier roads had to be 
abandoned, and of course the money spent on them was lost, except 
that the public had the use of the old roads during their existence, 
and were thus enabled to see the park, where otherwise they could 
not have done so. 

In general, it may be said that the present road system is ex¬ 
cellent, and the original cost moderate, credit for this being due 
mainly to two prominent engineer officers of the army, Gen. Dan 
C. Kingman, Chief of Engineers, and Gen. H. M. Chittenden, 
retired. To General Kingman is due the credit for originating the 
idea of constructing a belt line road to connect the various points 
of interest, and afford means for making a complete circuit of the 
interesting points without traveling over more than a few miles of 
road the second time. In the four years General Kingman was iff 
charge of the park roads, 1883 to 1887, appropriations were small, 
but the system was started, and later ably carried into execution by 
Gen. H. M. Chittenden. 

The roads as built were surfaced with the natural material, such 
as gravel, earth, or rock nearest at hand, and in general they have 
served their purpose well. 

As the park furnishes some of the most unique classes of scenery 
found anywhere in the world, and certainly in the United States, 
and as it is a magnificent summer resort the time seems to have ar¬ 
rived when the government can afford to spend such sums as may be 
necessary to make the main roads at least into first-class highways. 

This is entirely outside of the question whether the roads shall be 
used for automobiles or be continued for animal drawn vehicles 
only, since in either case the roads should be first-class. The cost 
will be considerable for the reasons before mentioned, though judg¬ 
ing from past results this cost will not be so very much more than 
for the same class of roads in localities where nearly everything that 
is difficult to obtain in the park is close at hand. In this connection 
it should be said that Congress has been liberal in recent years, 


ROAD WORK BY THE ARMY 


293 


and is showing a desire to put the roads in first-class condition as 
fast as funds can be spared from the national treasury. 

The study of how best to expend these funds is an interesting and 
serious one, and is being prosecuted with as much speed as natural 
conditions warrant. The park to any one who has not seen it is a 
revelation, and as it is a national institution it would seem proper 
for the writer to urge all those who have not seen it to do so at their 
earliest convenience, though the roads may not yet be the boule¬ 
vards that are found in city parks throughout the country. 

The Chairman: We come now to a subject that is one of the 
most important in highway work, and that is, the question of con¬ 
tract work. The first paper is by John J. Ryan, Secretary, New 
York State Road Builders’ Association. Mr. Ryan is unable to be 
present and has delegated the reading of the paper to Mr. T. Hugh 
Boorman, a highway engineer of New York, and a delegate appointed 
by Governor Glynn. I have the pleasure of introducing Mr. Boor¬ 
man, of New York. 

Mr. Boormann: 1 believe that the time has about arrived when 
we shall have, as they have in France, a Federal supervision of roads. 
It is, to my mind, the one safe and proper way of attaining what 
this country should have, as we have, thank God, everything else 
of the very best. In reading this paper from Mr. Ryan, I wish to 
state that Governor Glynn and Mrs. Glynn both would have been 
very glad to have been with you. Governor Glynn has done ex¬ 
cellent work during the short time that he has been the chief mag¬ 
istrate of the State, and it is worthy of much commendation. This 
question of convict labor he has taken up with excellent results. 
After these preliminary remarks I will get to the subject of Con¬ 
tract Work. I may say that here I am especially interested, be¬ 
cause this paper is on the line of what I claim are constructors and 
not contractors. Any old bootblack can become a contractor; 
any fellow that has failed in the shoe business or even in the pulpit 
can become a contractor and lay cement sidewalks and patent 
pavements, but, as you will hear from Mr. Ryan’s lips, he is a de¬ 
scendant of constructors; you will hear his views, in which I entirely 
coincide. He uses the word throughout, “real contractors,” when 
I should put “constructors.” I think you will see that the term 
“constructors” is really the more applicable. 


294 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


POSSIBLE LINES OF IMPROVEMENT IN HIGHWAY 
CONTRACT WORK 

By John J. Ryan 

Secretary , New York State Road Builders Association 

Real contractors and real engineers are born not made. A real 
contractor intuitively knows when, where and how to do the right 
thing; a real engineer knows how, when and where to plan the right 
thing to be done. A good contractor, even though tied up to a 
poor engineer, will be able to worry through and do good work; a 
first-class engineer, with a green contractor, will be able to complete 
a contract and show good results at the end, but when an incom¬ 
petent engineer and a haphazard contractor find themselves on the 
same job, then there is trouble. 

Unfortunately, in the highway contracting business there are a 
number of careless contractors and incompetent engineers, and for 
this reason, special attention should be given by States, counties 
and municipalities toward improving the methods of planning, let¬ 
ting, constructing and completing highway contracts. 

Inasmuch as this article will deal with State and county roads, 
the suggestions will be from the view point of the contractor as to 
possible improvement in connection with State and county highway 
contracts. 

When it has been decided by the officials of any State or county 
to build, or to improve a highway, the first step is to have a pre¬ 
liminary survey made, in order to ascertain the cost, so as to arrange 
for an appropriation covering the proposed improvement. 

In the past it has been the general idea that a preliminary survey 
was merely an order from the Highway Department to send out a 
crew of young engineers on a cross country run. When this crew 
of sprinters started out on their preliminary survey they were 
allowed so many days, and generally this time allowance was so 
short that when the crew reached the road, the survey resolved 
itself into one hundred yard dashes with hurdles thrown in. There 
was so much surface skimming done that when the note-books made 
up by these engineers were returned to the office, they were found 
full of inaccuracies. 

No time was spent by this marathon crew in seeking out infor¬ 
mation as to soil conditions, bad drainage, water flow of streams, 
property lines, deposits of road making materials, kind and amount 
of traffic, type of feeder roads, or any of the conditions which might 
have some effect on the selection of the proper type of road to suit 
that locality. Many a highway contract has been let where the 
type of road called for local materials, and no information has been 
given as to where these materials might be found in an acceptable 
quality. Special attention should be given by the survey party, 


IMPROVEMENT IN HIGHWAY CONTRACT WORK 295 

and it would well repay the Highway Departments, to see that 
these deposits of materials be sought out and properly located, in 
order that a correct estimate be made of the cost of the road. With 
a full and complete preliminary survey, the highway officials would 
be in a position to select the proper type, make an accurate estimate 
of the cost, furnish the bidders with detailed information concerning 
the materials to be used, and arrange to take care of the conditions 
affecting the life of the road; in short, cut the cloth to fit the form. 

More roads go to pieces on account of poor judgment in the selec¬ 
tion of type of road, than by poor workmanship on the part of the 
contractor. Yet, when one of these carelessly selected unfit types 
of road disintegrates, everybody jumps on the contractor and the 
engineer, even when they have followed the specifications to the 
letter. 

When it has been decided to have a highway contract letting, 
the Department should consider seasons for such lettings. The late 
fall, winter and early spring are the best, inasmuch as the con¬ 
tractor has practically closed up his work, and has plenty of time 
to go over new jobs, and be in a position to bid intelligently on these 
contracts. The State or county would gain more by having lettings 
at these times, as they would receive more bids and, undoubtedly, 
fairer prices for work. 

In connection with the letting of roads there seems to be a reluc¬ 
tance on the part of most Highway Departments to furnish infor¬ 
mation to bidders. Never yet has a State or county lost money 
by allowing a contractor to know in advance all that there was to 
be known about a contract which was advertised for letting. In 
New York State it has been the practice, after advertising highway 
contracts, to furnish the contractors with the engineer’s figures 
showing how the engineer has arrived at his estimate by computing 
basic prices, with profit allowance. While some of the Old Guard 
of contractors state that they prefer no engineer’s estimates to be 
given, yet, in general, the road builder in New York State looks 
for these estimates on each road, and checks up the same with his 
own idea of cost prices, making allowance for methods and super¬ 
vision. It has yet to be found that the State of New York lost any 
money by this procedure; rather has it benefited by it, because the 
contractor when furnished with full information as to the contract, 
is in a position to bid closer and know what he is doing when bidding. 
This idea of giving the contractor every assistance possible before 
the letting, has brought about the circulation of tabulated sheets 
which show the item prices on each contract, and also state the 
amount of appropriation and amount of engineer’s estimate. These 
tabulated sheets are of great help to the material and machinery 
men, and inasmuch as the shipping points are shown, the contractors 
are not guessing at the cost of imported materials, but have their 
quotations from the supply or machinery men days before the 
letting occurs. 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


296 

/ 

On the day appointed for the letting, the bids should be in at a 
specified hour, and opened at that time and read publicly; reading 
every item, and also the total amount of contract price. This 
practice advised the contractor immediately whether his is a low 
bidder or not, and he is in a position to make arrangements about 
plant, materials and labor, pending the official award. This award 
should not be held up more than twenty-four hours, unless for some 
unforeseen cause. It ought not to take over twenty-four hours to 
make a recapitulation of any number of highway bids. In New 
York State, where on one day they have as many as thirty roads 
with three hundred bidders, the checking up is done at the same 
time the bids are read, and the award is made that day or the next 
morning. This allows the contractor to arrange for his bonds and 
the other necessities in connection with the preliminary part of his 
contract. 

Performance bonds for highway contracts should not be over 50 
per cent of the contract price. These bonds become a liability 
when the contractor signs them, and while it may be called paper 
liability, yet it has effect upon his credit and sometimes acts as a 
hindrance in securing other contracts. In some States they ask 
for a bond of 100 per cent, which is quite needless, and an inheri¬ 
tance of old and obsolete requirements. When a contract and bond 
have been signed by the contractor, and filed and approved by the 
proper highway officials, the contractor is generally ready to start 
things. He wants to be moving. It is not natural for the con¬ 
tractor to be hanging around the office. His work is energetic, and 
he wants to be doing something. This is the time where the accu¬ 
rate preliminary survey will show that certain materials have been 
tested and some found acceptable. The location of these acceptable 
materials designated, Mr. Contractor is now in a position to locate 
his machinery, make up his organization and get ready to start his 
job. Just before he gets this job started, however, it is necessary 
for the Department to have a representative on the work, and this 
representative must have some consideration. He is the mouth¬ 
piece for the Highway Department, and care should be taken in 
his selection, so that this mouthpiece be neither dumb, tongue tied 
nor voluble. 

The growth of highway construction in United States has been 
so great, it has been almost impossible to find enough engineers 
who have a practical knowledge of road construction. For the most 
part, the road engineers are school boys plucked from technical 
schools and from civil service examinations, without an idea of 
practical road building, and sent out on the job armed with a book 
of specifications and set of blue prints. These young men are apt 
to be so afraid of themselves on account of their inexperience, they 
generally are so stiff that they lean backward. If there could only 
be a sort of preparatory school for young engineers who have been 
appointed to the Highway Department, and these engineers could 


IMPROVEMENT IN HIGHWAY CONTRACT WORK 297 

be given a few months of drilling in common sense interpretation 
of specifications, and then sent as assistants to old, practical engi¬ 
neers, who would be able to show them by their good example, that 
the engineer on the highway job is not supposed to be a detective, 
but an advisor and director, then there would be less friction and 
more and better roads built. 

The accumulation of useless and obsolete machinery by the road 
contractor is one of the curses of the road building business. Every 
change of administration, every change of highway officials, brings 
about some new type of road advertised without any test or experi¬ 
ment. The contractor who secures it, finds that when he is ready 
to start work, he must go out and buy this or that kind of machinery, 
when he already has carloads of machinery rusting and falling away 
in some storehouse or yard. It is hoped by the active road builder, 
that some day there will be a millenium, when the types of roads 
will be settled upon, and everything standardized so that the machin¬ 
ery that is used in building them may be standardized also, and the 
contractor not put to the continued expense of buying new machinery 
and throwing away the old. The depreciation of machinery is big- 
enough without having a loss on account of the constant changes in 
types of construction. 

Suppose the contractor with a contract on his hands has worked 
his way through the initial stages, by locating his plant and organi¬ 
zation on the job; suppose he has met his engineer, with the hope 
that he will find him of some breadth and capacity; suppose work 
is started and the machinery put in operation, and everything run¬ 
ning smoothly; then comes some little question as to the interpre¬ 
tation of the specifications, here your Mr. Road Engineer, if he be 
one of those near-sighted, hair splitting, afraid-of-his-life young men, 
he will get so fine in his decisions that he will forget all about the 
fact that he is building roads, and will try to build watches. These 
watch builders are the bane of highway construction. Never yet 
was a road built by a watch builder. A road has to be built by a 
road builder. You cannot have hair line decisions on road work. 
No blame for this can be applied to the Highway Departments. The 
trouble is the dearth of good, practical and competent road engineers. 
The failure of an engineer on the job, to make timely decisions in 
reference to materials or questions that come up in the course of 
construction, has brought about losses in highway construction, not 
only to the contractor, but to the Department. 

The monthly estimate is the vital thing to the contractor. There 
can be no successful contract without prompt monthly estimates. 
They must not be irregular or pruned. Monthly payments to the 
builder are as food to the body. 

In some States 90 per cent of the monthly estimates taken about 
the twentieth of the month are paid before the first of the next 
month, that is, practically all monthly estimates are paid within 
ten days. That is a fact, and records in the New York State High- 


298 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


way Department will show these statements to be true. If New 
York State can do it, other States can do it. It only means, make 
the engineer keep up to his job, and make the contractor keep up 
to his. 

When the first monthly estimate comes around the contractor, if 
he is a real, live contractor, will have his cost data and his monthly 
reports figured so that he knows how much work has been done, and 
how much it has cost him, and he is then in a position to take up 
the matter with the engineer. Together they can check up and 
agree upon what the estimate should be, so that there will be no 
deficiency when the check comes to the contractor. Every con¬ 
tractor should keep accurate account, by daily time reports, of every 
one on his payroll, of the time and amount of work done. Only in 
this way can he keep tabs on his job and be in a position to put 
up a fight for what is his when the estimate time comes around. 

If more attention was paid by road builders to cost data, there 
would be fewer disagreements with engineers about how much was 
coming to them. The right kind of an engineer is only too glad to 
check up with the right kind of a contractor. Of course, there are 
exceptions where this checking might lead to some wrong doing, 
but today, this is almost impossible, and on good straight contract 
work the final estimates would show over-paying and would bring 
out the fact that there had been collusion. Item prices and pub¬ 
licity tend toward minimizing the chances of collusion between the 
engineer and contractor. 

When it comes to the completion of a highway contract there 
should be no delay in its acceptance. The engineer should follow 
the contractor’s work with his final cross sections, and be ready to 
send in the final quantities, in order to pave the way for speedy 
payments. 

One of the great drawbacks to the highway contracting business is 
the long delay in final payments on roads. The contractor is some¬ 
times held up for months, and in addition to the 10 or 15 per cent 
of retained money, there is generally the last monthly estimate. This 
is apt to have a contractor tied up and his credit questioned by 
banks, material and machinery men. The margin of profit is too 
small to allow of long deferred final payments. The contractor is 
advancing most of the money, and with the large retained per¬ 
centages, he is handicapped in arranging for new work, and paying 
off the liabilities which have accumulated on the previous contract. 

Up to a short time ago, it was the practice in several States for 
the engineers out on highway work during the summer, to hold 
back their final cross sections and quantity sheets until they were 
called into the main office for winter work. They hung on to these 
estimates like grim death in order to string out their time during 
the winter. Mr. Road Contractor was wearing a path to the High¬ 
way Department trying to get the money due him. This was unfair 
to the contractor, and to those depending upon him for payment 
of accounts. 


IMPROVEMENT IN HIGHWAY CONTRACT WORK 


299 


The road builder who knows that his final moneys will be paid 
to him within thirty or sixty days after the acceptance of his con¬ 
tracts, is in a position to do better work and at a little less money 
than the man who is paying interest notes in the banks, and on 
notes to machinery men, and having a hard time to meet the payrolls 
on other work. 

In some States the Highway Department has made a record in 
the way they have handled these final payments, and the contractors 
in these States are the best in the business. It is a fact that when 
the Highway Department tries to help the contractor, the contractor 
is there to help the Department. 

Contractors do not get together as often as they ought. Road 
officials and engineers have conventions, State and national. No 
body of men engaged in the same line of business ever assembled 
without some good coming to the individuals. Exchange of ideas 
in reference to methods of supervision, operation of machinery, 
manipulation of materials, etc., is bound to help the practical end 
of road building. 

Highway contracting today is an industry large and extensive. 
It will be greater in the coming years. The interest in good roads 
in States just awakening, is going to mean more highway contracts, 
more highway contractors, and more highway engineers. Highway 
improvement is being benefited by the interest shown in it by the 
public; and it is by such conventions as this, where officials, engineers 
and contractors discuss subjects of common interest, that improve¬ 
ment along standard lines of highway contract work will be secured. 


DISCUSSION OF POSSIBLE LINES OF IMPROVEMENT 
IN HIGHWAY CONTRACT WORK 

L. D. Smoot 

Commissioner of Public Works, Jacksonville, Fla. 

Real contractors and real engineers are born not made. A real 
contractor intuitively knows when, where and how to do the right 
thing; a real engineer knows how, when and where to plan the right 
thing to be done. A good contractor, even though tied up to a 
poor engineer, will be able to worry through and do good work; a 
first-class engineer, with a green contractor, will be able to com¬ 
plete a contract and show good results at the end, but when an in¬ 
competent engineer and a haphazard contractor find themselves on 
the same job, then there is trouble. 

Unfortunately, in the highway contracting business there are a 
number of careless contractors and incompetent engineers, and for 
this reason, special attention should be given by States, counties 
and municipalities toward improving the methods of planning, 
letting, constructing and completing highway contracts. 


300 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


Inasmuch as this article will deal with State and county roads, 
the suggestions will be from the view point of the contractor as 
to possible improvement in connection with State and county high¬ 
way contracts. 

When it has been decided by the officials of any State or county 
to build, or to improve a highway, the first step is to have a pre¬ 
liminary survey made, in order to ascertain the cost, so as to arrange 
for an appropriation covering the proposed improvement. 

In the past it has been the general idea that a preliminary sur¬ 
vey was merely an order from the Highway Department to send 
out a crew of young engineers on a cross country run. When this 
crew of sprinters started out on their preliminary survey they were 
allowed so many days, and generally this time allowance was so 
short that when the crew reached the road, the survey resolved it¬ 
self into one hundred yard dashes with hurdles thrown in. There 
was so much surface skimming done that when the note-books 
made up by these engineers were returned to the office, they were 
found full of inaccuracies. 

No time was spent by this marathon crew in seeking out informa¬ 
tion as to soil conditions, bad drainage, water flow of streams, 
property lines, deposits of road making materials, kind and amount 
of traffic, type of feeder roads, or any of the conditions which might 
have some effect on the selection of the proper type of road to suit 
that locality. Many a highway contract has been let where the 
type of road called for local materials, and no information has been 
given as to where these materials might be found in an acceptable 
quality. Special attention should be given by the survey party, 
and it would well repay the Highway Departments, to see that 
these deposits of materials be sought out and properly located, 
in order that a correct estimate be made of the cost of the road. 
With a full and complete preliminary survey, the highway officials 
would be in a position to select the proper typfe, make an accurate 
estimate of the cost, furnish the bidders with detailed information 
concerning the materials to be used, and arrange to take care of 
the conditions affecting the life of the road; in short, cut the cloth 
to fit the form. 

More roads go to pieces on account of poor judgment in the se¬ 
lection of type of road, than by poor workmanship on the part of 
the contractor. Yet, when one of these carelessly selected unfit 
types of road disintegrates, everybody jumps on the contractor 
and the engineer, even when they have followed the specifications to 
the letter. 

When it nas been decided to have a highway contract letting, 
the department should consider seasons for such lettings. The 
late fall, winter and early spring are the best, inasmuch as the con¬ 
tractor has practically closed up his work, and has plenty of time 
to go over new jobs, and be in a position to bid intelligently on 
these contracts. The State or county would gain more by having 


IMPROVEMENT IN HIGHWAY CONTRACT WORK 


301 


lettings at these times, as they would receive more bids and, undoubt¬ 
edly, fairer prices for work. 

In connection with the letting of roads there seems to be a re¬ 
luctance on the part of most Highway Departments to furnish in¬ 
formation to bidders. Never yet has a State or county lost money 
by allowing a contractor to know in advance all that there was to be 
known about a contract which was advertised for letting. In New 
York State it has been the practise, after advertising highway con¬ 
tracts, to furnish the contractors with the engineer’s figures show¬ 
ing how the engineer has arrived at his estimate by computing basic 
prices, with profit allowance. While some of the old guard of 
contractors state that they prefer no engineer’s estimate to be 
given, yet, in general, the road builder in New York State looks for 
these estimates on each road, and checks up the same with his own 
idea of cost prices, making allowance for methods and supervision. 
It has yet to be found that the State of New York lost any money by 
this procedure; rather has it benefited by it, because the contractor 
when furnished with full information as to the contract, is in a posi¬ 
tion to bid closer and know what he is doing when bidding. This 
idea of giving the contractor every assistance possible before the 
letting, has brought about the circulation of tabulated sheets which 
show the item prices on each contract, and also state the amount 
of appropriation and amount of engineer’s estimate. These tabu¬ 
lated sheets are of great help to the material and machinery men, 
and inasmuch as the shipping points are shown, the contractors 
are not guessing at the cost of imported materials, but have their 
quotations from the supply or machinery men days before the 
letting occurs. 

On the day appointed for the letting, the bids should be in at 
a specified hour, and opened at that time and read publicly; read¬ 
ing every item, and also the total amount of contract price. This 
practice advised the contractor immediately whether his is a low 
bid or not, and he is in a position to make arrangements about 
plant, materials and labor, pending the official award. This award 
should not be held up more than twenty-four hours, unless for some 
unforeseen cause. It ought not to take over twenty-four hours to 
make a recapitulation of any number of highway bids. In New York 
State, where on one day they have as many as thirty roads with 
three hundred bidders, the checking up is done at the same time the 
bids are read, and the award is made that day or the next morning. 
This allows the contractor to arrange for his bonds and the other 
necessities in connection with the preliminary part of his contract. 

Performance bonds for highway contracts should not be over 50 
per cent of the contract price. These bonds become a liability 
when the contractor signs them, and while it may be called paper 
liability, yet it has effect upon his credit and sometimes acts as 
a hindrance in securing other contracts. In some States they 
ask for a bond of 100 per cent, which is quite needless, and an in- 


302 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


heritance of old and obsolete requirements. When a contract 
acd bond have been signed by the contractor, and filed and ap¬ 
proved by the proper highway officials, the contractor is generally 
ready to start things. He wants to be moving. It is not natural 
for the contractor to be hanging around the office. His work is 
energetic, and he wants to be doing something. This is the time 
where the accurate preliminary survey will show that certain ma¬ 
terials have been tested and some found acceptable. The location 
of these acceptable materials designated Mr. Contractor is now in a 
position to locate his machinery, make up his organization and get 
ready to start his job. Just before he gets this job started, how¬ 
ever, it is necessary for the department to have a representative 
on the work, and this representative must have some consideration. 
He is the mouthpiece for the Highway Department, and care should 
be taken in his selection, so that this mouthpiece be neither dumb, 
tongue-tied nor voluble. 

The growth of highway construction in United States has been 
so great, it has been almost impossible to find enough engineers 
who have a practical knowledge of road construction. For the 
most part, the road engineers are school boys plucked from tech¬ 
nical schools and from civil service examinations, without an idea 
of practical road building, and sent out on the job armed with a 
book of specifications and set of blue prints. These young men 
are apt to be so afraid of themselves on account of their inexperi¬ 
ence, they generally are so stiff that they lean backward. If there 
could only be a sort of preparatory school for young engineers who 
have been appointed to the Highway Department, and these engi¬ 
neers could be given a few months of drilling in common sense in¬ 
terpretation of specifications, and then sent as assistant to old, 
practical engineers, who would be able to show them by their good 
example, that the engineer on the highway job is not supposed to 
be a detective * but an adviser and director, then there would be less 
friction and more and better roads built. 

The accumulation of useless and obsolete machinery by the road 
contractor is one of the curses of the road building business. Every 
change of administration, every change of highway officials, brings 
about some new type of road advertised without any test or ex¬ 
periment. The contractor who secures it, finds that when he is 
ready to start work, he must go out and buy this or that kind of 
machinery, when he already has carloads of machinery rusting 
and falling away in some storehouse or yard. It is hoped by the 
active road builder, that some day there will be a millennium, when 
the types of roads will be settled upon, and everything standard¬ 
ized so that the machinery that is used in building them may be 
standardized also, and the contractor not put to the continued 
expense of buying new machinery and throwing away the old. The 
depreciation of machinery is big enough without having a loss on 
account of the constant changes in types of construction. 


IMPROVEMENT IN HIGHWAY CONTRACT WORK 303 

Suppose the contractor with a contract on his hands has worked 
his way through the initial stages, by locating his plant and or¬ 
ganization on the job; suppose he has met his engineer, with the 
hope that he will find him of some breadth and capacity; suppose 
work is started and the machinery put in operation, and every¬ 
thing running smoothly; then comes some little question as to 
the interpretation of the specifications, here your Mr. Road Engi¬ 
neer, if he be one of those near-sighted, hair splitting, afraid-of- 
his-life young man, he will get so fine in his decisions that he will 
forget all about the fact that he is building roads, and will try to 
build watches. These watch builders are the bane of highway 
construction. Never yet was a road built by a watch builder. 
A road has to be built by a road builder. You cannot have hair 
line decisions on road work. No blame for this can be applied to the 
Highway Departments. The trouble is the dearth of good, prac¬ 
tical and competent road engineers. The failure of an engineer 
on the job to make timely decisions in reference to materials or ques¬ 
tions that come up in the course of construction, has brought about 
losses in highway construction, not only to the contractor, but to the 
departments. 

The monthly estimate is the vital thing to the contractor. There 
can be no successful contract without prompt monthly estimates. 
They must not be irregular or pruned. Monthly payments to the 
builder are as food to the body. 

In some States 90 per cent of the monthly estimates taken about 
the twentieth of the month are paid before the first of the next 
month, that is, practically all monthly estimates are paid within 
ten days. This is a fact, and records in the New York State High¬ 
way Department will show these statements to be true. If New 
York State can do it, other States can do it. It only means, make 
the engineer keep up to his job, and make the contractor keep up 
to his. 

When the first monthly estimate comes around the contractor, 
if he is a real, live contractor, will have his cost data and his monthly 
reports figured so that he knows how much work has been done, 
and how much it has cost him, and he is then in a position to take 
up the matter with the engineer. Together they can check up and 
agree upon what the estimate should be, so that there will be no 
deficiency when the check comes to the contractor. Every con¬ 
tractor should keep accurate account, by daily time reports, of 
every one on his payroll, of the time and amount of work done. 
Only in this way can he keep tabs on his job and be in a position 
to put up a fight for what is his when the estimate time comes around. 

If more attention was paid by road builders to cost data, there 
would be fewer disagreements with engineers about how much 
was coming to them. The right kind of an engineer is only too 
glad to check up with the right kind of a contractor. Of course, 
there are exceptions where this checking might lead J,o some 


304 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


wrong doing, but today, this is almost impossible, and on good 
straight contract work the final estimates would show over-paying 
and would bring out the fact that there had been collusion. Item 
prices and publicity tend toward minimizing the chances of collusion 
between the engineer and contractor. 

When it comes to the completion of a highway contract there 
should be no delay in its acceptance. The engineer should follow 
the contractor’s work with his final cross sections, and be ready 
to send in the final quantities, in order to pave the way for speedy 
payments. 

One of the great drawbacks to the highway contracting busi¬ 
ness is the long delay in final payments on roads. The contractor 
sometimes held up for months, and in addition to the 10 or 15 
per cent of retained money, there is generally the last monthly 
estimate. This is apt to have a contractor tied up and his credit 
questioned by banks, material and machinery men. The margin 
of profit is too small to allow of long deferred final payments. The 
contractor is advancing most of the money, and with the large 
retained percentages, he is handicapped in arranging for new work, 
and paying off the liabilities which have accumulated on the previous 
contract. 

Up to a short time ago, it was the practice in several States for 
the engineers out on highway work during the summer, to hold 
back their final cross sections and quantity sheets until they were 
called into the main office for winter work. They hung on to 
these estimates like grim death in order to string out their time 
during the winter. Mr. Road Contractor was wearing a path to 
the Highway Department trying to get the money due him. This 
was unfair to the contractor, and to those depending upon him for 
payment of accounts. 

The road builder who knows that his final moneys will be paid 
to him within thirty or sixty days after the acceptance of his con¬ 
tracts, is in a position to do better work and at a little less money 
than the man who is paying interest notes in the banks, and on 
notes to machinery men, and having a hard time to meet the payrolls 
on other work. 

In some States the Highway Department has made a record in 
the way they have handled these final payments, and the con¬ 
tractors in these States are the best in the business. It is a fact 
that when the Highway" Department tries to help the contractor, 
the contractor is there to help the department. 

Contractors do not get together as often as they ought. Road 
officials and engineers have conventions, State and national. No 
body of men engaged in the same line of business ever assembled 
without some good coming to the individuals. Exchange of ideas, 
in reference to methods of supervision, operation of machinery, 
manipulation of materials, etc., is bound to help the practical end 
of road building. 


HIGHWAY ENGINEERING EDUCATION 


305 


Highway contracting today is an industry large and extensive. 
It will be greater in the coming years. The interest in good roads 
in States just awakening, is going to mean more highway con¬ 
tracts, more highway contractors, and more highway engineers. 
Highway improvement is being benefited by the interest shown 
in it by the public; and it is by such conventions as this, where 
officials, engineers and contractors discuss subjects of common 
interest, that improvement along standard lines of highway contract 
work will be secured. 

Mr. Shirley takes the chair. 

The Chairman: The subject of the next paper is Highway 
Engineering Education, by Prof. C. M. Strahan, Dean of Engi¬ 
neering, University of Georgia. It gives me pleasure to introduce 
Professor Strahan. 

HIGHWAY ENGINEERING EDUCATION 

C. M. Strahan 

Dean of Engineering , University of Georgia 

A friend of mine from Muscogee County, said to me that the three 
fundamentals of building good roads were a negro, a mule, and brains. 
I take it that we are now concerned with the question of the kind 
of brains required and how to get them. The universities are re¬ 
garded as the chief brain factories of the country. We naturally 
look to them for road building brains—what can they supply? Or 
rather what ought they to supply? By adopting the military 
analogy we may possibly classify the answer. The army needs 
the brains of the general, of the major, of the lieutenant, of the 
non-commissioned officer, of the private—it needs them for infantry, 
for cavalry, for artillery. 

We cannot expect West Point to turn out ready made generals— 
we are content to accept second lieutenants. We cannot tell which 
of these lieutenants is going to be the ultimate general, or whether 
his future will run to infantry, cavalry, or artillery. We do know 
that experience must be added to early training before the finished 
product will be wrought. 

So in regard to the education of highway engineers, the university 
must direct its undergraduate effort to making the well drilled sub¬ 
officer rooted and grounded in the fundamental truths of his pro¬ 
fession capable by opportunity and experience of serving in a specific 
arm of the service and growing more and more into perfect power 
as the result of that experience and his personal initiative. The 
West Point graduate is not a specialist in infantry maneuvers, in 
cavalry evolutions, artillery ballistics. He has been taught the 
principles and chief practices of them all. He specializes after¬ 
ward. His ultimate efficiency as a higher officer lies in his ability 


306 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


to direct his energy wisely in relation to the whole army and to the 
exigencies of that part of the fight in which he is actually engaged. 

The young highway engineer enlists in one grand division of the 
great civil engineering army. He is required to serve in one com¬ 
pany of this division. He hopes for promotion. Manifestly his 
training should be broad enough to include not simply the work of 
his company but of his whole division. But even then suppose he 
is a misfit! He may properly belong to the Sanitary Corps. The 
university must bear this in mind, both for him and for the high¬ 
ways. It must remember that the item of experience, the item 
of personality, powerfully modify the quality of brain product. 
Fortunately justice can usually be done to both sides if a too narrow 
undergraduate training is avoided. There underlies the whole field 
of civil engineering knowledge a limited number of sound physical, 
mathematical and chemical ideas. To select and emphasize these 
fundamentals, to vitalize them by an adequate but too multiplied 
number of variety of practical applications is the real problem of the 
engineering school. 

The same kind of moments and shears are at work in the highway 
bridge as in all bridges. The construction details differ. A limited 
number of typical bridge designs, not every possible design, has place 
in the undergraduate course. The same principles of drafting cover 
the railroad map, the architect’s plans and the highway lay-out. The 
same principles of mathematics apply to quantitative estimates 
whether of masonry, or water, or earth work. The natural proper¬ 
ties and suitabilities of stone, of brick, of cements and concretes, 
of sand, of clay, of metals, are fundamental to the selection for 
structural use of any kind. The special adaptability of each or in 
combination is perfected in the engineer by research and structural 
experience. The university can here give valuable partial demon¬ 
strations and data up to a certain point. It can reveal the labo¬ 
ratory point of view through experiments and tests on the more 
important materials. The engineering experiment station and 
testing laboratory with their trained specialists must continue this 
research work. 

The broad principles and significant facts of hydraulics are also 
fundamental to the highway engineer as to any other engineer. Let 
him understand these principles and he will readily grasp the coast¬ 
ing of his road surfaces, the undermining of his bridge piers, the 
capacities of his side ditches and culverts. The writer forbears to 
press this line of thought further. 

Engineering efficiency of the individual then consists: 

1. In broad and firm grasp of the physical, chemical, quantitative 
and qualitative relations of natural and manufactured materials 
and of the forces at work on them. 

2. The utilization and management of men, of motive power, 
of machinery to accomplish definite structural ends with these 
materials. 


DISCUSSION 


307 


There are three principal things to be done: 

1. Certain field operations in laying out the proposed work. 

2. Certain office drawings and calculations to make clear the pur¬ 
pose and the construction contemplated. 

3. The actual performance of the construction by the best agencies 
and materials. 

The university can give insight into materials of important kinds, 
it can give training in typical surveys, in office drawings, in mathe¬ 
matical calculations, in principles of design and in theories of the 
action of forces. It cannot give experience and judgment in the con¬ 
trol of labor or the final economics of motive power and machinery. 
The writer would therefore be content to turn out highway second 
lieutenants with the possibility of their becoming by experience, 
majors in earth roads, colonels in concrete roads and chiefs of staff 
on highway commissions. He would rely on the graduate school, 
the research laboratory and the field construction, to effect the 
successive promotions from grade to grade. 

He would avoid the inadequate foundation in the young highway 
engineer’s mental training as zealously as in the road he is expected 
to construct. 

The Chairman: Gentlemen, I have the pleasure of introducing 
Mr. D. J. Morrison, of Mississippi. 

Mr. Morrison: Gentlemen, I have the honor to represent as 
chairman, the Mississippi delegation to this convention appointed 
by our governor. 

The thought has come to my mind by the speeches and the general 
type and character of the delegation represented here that the 
momentous question before this Congress and the American people 
is transportation and its methods. 

Without transportation the past would be forgotten, the present 
grow dim, and the future be blotted out. Transportation is the con¬ 
necting link between sorrow and happiness, between failure and 
success, between ignorance and intelligence, between darkness and 
light, between heathenism and civilization, between despair and 
hope, between war and peace and between death and life. Transpor¬ 
tation first led our primitive ancestor from his benighted hut along 
a stony footpath to the brook for water, or over the bosom of some 
lonely lake in his boat of bark or skin in quest of food to the great 
double track trunk railway lines of today, or to the mighty steam¬ 
ships that traverse the seas and touch all the remotest lands of the 
world. Transportation transformed the call of communication of 
this ancestor of ours to his neighbor across the brook to the wire¬ 
less voice of the Marconi system of telegraphy heard now across the 
oceans and seas by every land of the globe. Transportation trans¬ 
formed the falcon or the carrier pigeon to the armoured airships 
of today. In proportion as the method of transportation is intensi- 


308 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


fied its use is diminished. Wireless telegraphy is the most intense 
physical mode of transportation and closely approaches the swift¬ 
ness and speed of human thought. Wireless telegraphy, airships, 
waterships, telephones, telegraphs, electric and steam railways all 
are intensified methods of transportation, and in their use are more 
or less diminished in comparison to the great public highways of our 
country upon which the masses must depend for their mode of trans¬ 
portation, and over which must be transformed from the fields 
food and clothing to the teaming millions of the world. 

Is it not amazing and incomprehensible with such a stupendous 
factor as good roads to increase the wealth of our nation, and raise 
the standard of our citizenship to such a high efficiency our Federal 
Government has done so little to aid this department. Why should 
not Congress long ago ranked the department of public highways 
among the first of importance of her economic questions. I say 
this is strange and incomprehensible when Congress has done so much 
and spent so much money in other ways. Can any appropria¬ 
tion develop greater resources and wealth or reach a greater number 
of people than the farmer who holds the real wealth of the nation, 
than an appropriation for improving country highways? 

Congress appropriates large sums annually for building and main¬ 
taining levees, harbors, canals, and railroads, and still other large 
sums to protect our health in the pure food act, in the quarantine 
act to protect us from outside competition in the tariff act, to pro¬ 
tect us from extortion, transportation rates in the interstate com¬ 
merce act. Much money is spent by other acts, namely—to teach 
us how to grow two blades of grass where one grew, two ears of corn 
where one grew, two bales of cotton where one grew, how to kill the 
lady-bug, the potato bug, the Egyptian moth, the boll weevil, 
and many other acts looking to protect and better the condition of 
the farmer. The Federal Government pays large sums to railroad 
companies for transporting the mail over their roads, yet, how many 
dollars are paid by the Federal Government for building and main¬ 
taining public roads over which thousands of tons of mail is trans¬ 
ported daily by the parcel post and rural delivery routes. This 
seems that the Federal Government has subsidized our public roads 
and appropriated their use for the mail service without paying a 
dollar for the privilege to the country through which they pass. 
To the contrary the United States claims the supreme right of way 
over them. 

Our congressmen and senators are directly responsible for these 
inequalities of rights and benefits and the representatives of our 
legislature are under the same indictment. 

The solution of building good roads throughout the length and 
breadth of this country is in the hands of the people, and especially 
the farmer, who has always been the idol and hero of the politicians’ 
campaign, until the election is over. Let the eternal question burn 
its way into the legislature and Congress by the voters, “Will you if 


DISCUSSION 


309 


elected support State and national aid for public highways.” When 
this is done we will be sure to get this all important aid. 

The Southern States need good roads more now than ever, since 
cotton has ceased to be the wealth of our crop, on account of the 
boll weevil. 

A bale of cotton under normal conditions is worth $50.00 and 
weighs 500 pounds. To equal this value of $50.00 in native hay 
we have a weight of 10,000 pounds, and in corn a weight of 6,000 
pounds. Forced to largely abandon raising cotton we must raise 
products of higher tonnage, and the transportation of this high ton¬ 
nage is the factor that demands immediately a larger field of im¬ 
proved highways for the South. 

A Mississippi highway association growing out of this Congress 
among the delegates appointed by Governor Brewer has been formed, 
and I have the honor of being its president, and I hope that when our 
next legislature meets you will find Mississippi transferred from the 
delinquent list and among those States who have a Highway De¬ 
partment. 

Gentlemen, as chairman of the Mississippi delegation I submit to 
you the following report of what our State has done in four years 
even without a public highway department from which I could 
gather data. This report does not include work done by tax levy, 
but only that by bond issue. 


Amount of money raised by bond issue. $5,920,500.00 

Number of miles of gravel roads built. 717.41 

Number of miles of macadam roads built. 137.13 

Number of miles of sand, clay and dirt roads built... . 5381.00 

Number of miles of concrete roads built. 31.00 

Number of miles of different kinds of roads now under 
contract. 3272.00 


9518.54 

Approximate amount of money on hand for future con- -- 

tract or uncompleted contracts. $1,139,500.00 


The Chairman: Continuing the subject of highway engineer¬ 
ing education, I now have the pleasure of introducing Prof. Hector 
J. Hughes, Chairman of the School of Engineering, Harvard Uni¬ 
versity. 

Professor Hughes: Engineering education is usually taken to 
mean the technical education comprised in a limited period of four 
years, more or less, pursued at a scientific school or college; and 
it is my conviction that many of the difficulties which confront us 
in connection with this subject are due to a point of view which 
leads us to look upon this period, which is only a short step in the 
process of education, as its end and goal. Moreover, although engi¬ 
neers and administrators and engineering teachers know pretty well 










310 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


what is essential and desirable for young students intending to 
enter upon highway work, there is a considerable divergence of 
opinion as to the best way to organize instruction; and there are 
also many limitations imposed upon the technical schools by factors 
and influences beyond their control. 

We are at present confronted with a demand for trained high¬ 
way engineers much larger than the supply. This is partly because 
the field is new, and experienced men are relatively scarce, and 
partly because the engineering schools have not developed their 
highway work as well as older subjects of instruction. Moreover, this 
very lack of experienced highway engineers, accentuates the deficien¬ 
cies of young graduates when they enter this field because they are, 
at the beginning of their careers, called upon for a degree of skill 
and knowledge of practice which is to be gained only by experience, 
and to fill places w r hich in other fields are commonly held by older 
men. We should meet the immediate demands thoroughly, and 
train our students to profit by this present opportunity; but we 
should not forget that the condition is abnormal, nor embark upon 
educational policies which may result, sooner or later, in conditions 
which may be disadvantageous to the engineers themselves, as well 
as to the community which they serve. 

We too often discuss engineering courses as if the education of 
engineers were comprised in the short period spent in a technical 
school, and plan the subjects of study as if young graduates were 
finished products. If they often fall into that fatal mistake them¬ 
selves, they are hardly to be blamed; yet we know right well that 
they are only beginners in their profession, that their education 
begins with their first mental impressions in infancy, that their 
character and their habits of work and thought are more or less 
determined before they enter college, and if their education is to 
end when they graduate, as sometimes happens, time and money 
and effort have been wasted in starting them on ineffectual and 
disappointing careers. 

It is not too much to expect that young engineering graduates 
should leave the technical schools mentally equipped to enter upon 
practice in any one of the several closely allied fields of work, with 
the expectation that continued further study combined with ex¬ 
perience will lead to expertness and suitable rewards. When there 
were only a few special fields of engineering, the task of the schools 
was simple, but with the growing and inevitable development of 
specialties, the schools are facing difficult problems in trying to 
meet the demand for more specialized training without sacrificing 
subjects which are commonly held to be both fundamental and in¬ 
dispensable. The problem reduces itself in the last analysis, to the 
best use of time and money; the time required to complete not only 
a technical course, but also the whole course of schooling, the money 
spent in providing educational opportunities, and in supporting 
students a considerable period of their life in unproductive effort. 


DISCUSSION 


311 


Engineering students of this country rarely carry their schooling 
beyond the four-year undergraduate courses of the engineering 
schools. A small percentage of our engineering students go to col¬ 
lege before entering upon their professional studies, another small 
percentage take an additional year or more of advanced specialized 
engineering work; this small but important class should be well pro¬ 
vided for, but the four-year undergraduate courses are our chief 
concern. 

The average age of entrance to the technical schools is probably 
between 18 and 19 years, and the age of graduation between 22 
and 23 years; and the four years in the schools comprise in reality 
only four periods of about thirty weeks each, with perhaps an addi¬ 
tional ten weeks in the summer, making the whole period specifi¬ 
cally devoted to what we call a technical training, about one hun¬ 
dred and thirty weeks, or two and a half full years. About one- 
half of this period is allotted to subjects which are not technical, 
although many of them are necessary preparation for applied science 
or engineering subjects which we are accustomed to look upon as 
the real technical training. In these four years, or to be more exact 
two and a half years, students are expected to become intelligent 
observers, industrious, clear and logical thinkers; to learn to ex¬ 
press themselves correctly and clearly in speech, in writing and in 
drawing; to acquire skill in the use of mathematics and mechanics; 
to get a fundamental knowledge of four or five physical sciences 
and be trained in laboratory methods; also to become thoroughly 
grounded in the applied sciences (that is, the engineering subjects 
of one general field of engineering), and to acquire some skill in 
the use of engineering instruments. To this is usually added the 
study of one or two foreign languages, sometimes economics, litera¬ 
ture and history. 

As highway engineers, they should learn of the materials, proc¬ 
esses and methods used in all kinds of roads and pavements; they 
should be trained in making physical and chemical tests of road 
materials, and interpreting these tests; they should be trained in 
location and design, in writing specifications; and should know 
something about road economics and administration, and road laws, 
and be familiar with good practice in general. 

It is only necessary to enumerate these subjects to show that 
the proper accomplishment of all the training desirable is not pos¬ 
sible within the limited period available. The necessary stress 
under which the students work often defeats the very object of 
their education, namely, a thorough training of the mind. 

The technical schools have met the demand for specialization 
in several ways. (1) By establishing advanced graduate courses 
which recognize the fact that to be effective, specialized work should 
be based upon thorough training in fundamentals. Such courses 
are naturally only available for those who have completed the 
undergraduate work. While this method solves the problem for 


312 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


those few who can afford the time and money, it does not solve 
the problem for the average student. There should be a few schools 
well equipped and well manned to provide this class of instruction 
for very promising men, and for those who wish to return from 
practice to acquire additional special knowledge in the fields into 
which choice or circumstances have placed them. But it is not a 
general solution, even if students could accept it, certainly not 
unless it could be accomplished without increasing the age of gradua¬ 
tion, which is very high at the present time. 

(2) A second method is to add to the technical programs, courses 
giving the salient points of special fields, as the demand for one 
after another arises, attempting to keep more or less intact the 
fundamentals of the original programs. 

(3) The third method is to offer optional groups of study in 
special fields, eliminating part of the subjects formerly required of 
all students. 

The second method is not satisfactory in general, as it often 
results in eliminating much of the desirable drill in fundamentals 
and in replacing it with informational courses, rules of thumb, and 
hand-book designing, routine drafting, and the mechanical per¬ 
formance of laboratory exercises. 

The third way is probably the best that can be done if we must 
specialize in the time allotted to the undergraduate courses. By 
this plan students can acquire a fundamental knowledge of the 
mechanics, and a good beginning in one field of engineering with¬ 
out sacrificing vigorous mental training. But under such speciali¬ 
zation the students are too often inadequately prepared to enter 
advantageously other fields than the one which they have chosen; 
and if they do not select the fields where the opportunities of their 
own future may lead them, they may be permanently handicapped 
by the narrowness of their training. 

A study of the catalogues of engineering schools will convince 
anyone that some schools have met this matter of specialization 
squarely, that many have not, and that some programs are a com¬ 
promise between an attempt to specialize and still to retain all the 
fundamental subjects. It is not uncommon that students carry 
ten, twelve or even more separate courses simultaneously through a 
term of fifteen weeks. These courses vary from a lecture of one 
hour per week in each subject to drafting or laboratory courses of 
six hours or more a week. Some of the courses neither require mental 
effort, nor produce any mental reaction, and in many instances 
the programs are so crowded that there is little opportunity for 
mental digestion. We are in theory at least training young men 
to solve engineering problems, and if they are not trained to think, 
the very end of education is defeated. Too often all but the most 
vigorous students take degrees and enter upon their professional 
work filled with undigested facts, but little competent to meet and 
solve real problems. 


DISCUSSION 


313 


It seems pertinent to raise the question whether many existing 
programs in our engineering schools are not more or less haphazard 
development from courses originally designed to train students pri¬ 
marily for corporation service. What we need at the present time, as 
a prominent engineer recently said, is to educate engineers for public 
service as well as for corporation service. They should have the 
technical subjects, but they should also have training in business 
administration, financing, in organization, and the principles of 
accounting, and in matters which pertain to the commercial, indus¬ 
trial and civic institutions of the country. And above all they 
should be fitted to take up engineering problems, not only from a 
technical standpoint, but also with the broadest and soundest con¬ 
sideration of all the elements involved. 

But it will be asked how can we do all that is now being required 
in the time available, and add more to it. Perhaps we cannot, 
but we can, I think, improve the training of our students without 
adding to their years of study or increasing the age of graduation. 
Under the existing conditions of entrance, and with the preparation 
which students ordinarily have upon entering college, the betterment 
of the technical course is to be found in the simplification of the 
programs, in the elimination of over-specialization, in a more thorough 
correlation of subjects, and in the reduction of the number of subjects 
attempted. And by specialization, I do not refer merely to new fields; 
I believe it is entirely possible to over-specialize, to the disadvantage 
of the students, in certain elementary subjects, such as drafting and 
surveying, and in the most advanced subjects, such as railroading and 
structures. It is quite possible to provide within the limit of the 
four-years’ course, a well balanced program which will give civil 
engineering students about an equally good preparation in the fields 
of highway work, structural work, water power, railroad and sanitary 
engineering, and make every part of the program a vigorous course 
in mental training. 

I think, however, that if we stop there we fall short of solving 
our problem. We are too much given to thinking in terms of the 
four years of the technical courses, forgetting the other twelve or 
more of earlier schooling, and the years of study which should fol¬ 
low in the career of every engineer. We teachers know that many, if 
not the majority of students enter the schools with careless and slov¬ 
enly mental habits; many cannot write or speak correctly and clearly, 
and many cannot do arithmetic or elementary mathematics accu¬ 
rately. And, although considerable effort and much time is given 
during the four years to correcting early acquired habits, engineers 
and teachers know that many leave the schools with more or less the 
same unsatisfactory qualities that they had when they entered. 
Moreover, much time is spent in college in repeating subjects which 
the students have already studied long enough to master up to a 
certain point, but which they have not mastered, and too much time 
is given to studying subjects which can be as well or better studied 


314 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


at an earlier age. Higher standards both for entrance to, and gradua¬ 
tion from our technical schools should be more uniformly enforced. 

It has been repeatedly asserted by competent educators that at 
least two years can be saved in the secondary schools, and that stu¬ 
dents can be graduated two years earlier from college if a better co¬ 
ordination of work between the secondary schools and the colleges 
could be secured; and this does not take into consideration the fact 
that a large amount of time is wasted for the older boys and college 
students in the long summer vacations. Two years added to the 
productive period of college graduates would be great economic 
saving, to say nothing of the possibilities it would offer for adding 
to the present course certain studies which are highly desirable and 
which in many instances could be added if it were not for this waste 
of time. It is certainly possible to fit all of our students to enter 
college at least one year earlier and to make available considerable 
time out of the four years for such studies as engineering students 
ought to take to fit them for the business and administrative duties 
which they may be called upon to perform. 

A radical reform in the use of time during the years of schooling 
concerns not only highway education but all education, and will cer¬ 
tainly come to pass under the stress of a growing economic necessity, 
but it seems to me that these reforms should be hastened by every 
influence that engineers and others interested in the welfare of young 
men can bring to bear. It is especially important in engineering be¬ 
cause the majority of engineering students do not come from wealthy 
homes and the cost of instruction, as well as the cost of supporting 
them while they are not earning, is a very heavy tax not only upon 
their parents, but upon the community. Moreover, the years of 
apprenticeship of young engineers are long and their salaries are 
small. Students should enter upon their work not only as early as 
possible, but also as well equipped as may be, not only for highway 
engineering, but within reasonable limits for any engineering work 
that the chances of life may offer them. 

The Chairman: Next on the program is the Washington- 
Atlanta Highway, by Charles P. Light, Field Secretary of the 
American Highway Association, but Mr. Light’s duties have been 
so numerous that he has asked Mr. George C. Scales, Highway 
Engineer of the U. S. Office of Public Roads, to take his place. 

Mr. Scales: Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen: I know you missed 
a treat by not hearing Mr. Light, as I am a very poor substitute 
for him when it comes to speaking. I will try in as few words as 
possible to tell you what we are trying to do. For about 20 years 
the Office of Public Roads has been building object lesson roads all 
over the United States, collecting cost data and having bulletins 
printed to be used in different parts of the country, but no systematic 
attempt at maintenance has been made except in the case of a few 


DISCUSSION 


315 


high priced roads. The American Highway Association made a 
proposition to the U. S. Office of Public Roads that if they could get 
about 1000 miles of roadway, they would try out the question of 
maintenance; the Office of Public Roads to detail three engineers for 
the work and the American Highway Association to furnish three 
automobiles for the use of the engineers. The road from Wash¬ 
ington to Atlanta was selected. It is a road that comprises about 
95 per cent of all the types of road in the United States. They 
wanted to get the cooperation of all the counties along the line 
of this road, because the United States was not going to spend any 
money whatever. They met with hearty cooperation and inaugu¬ 
rated the scheme, and in May appointed three engineers, Mr. Wins¬ 
low for the northern division, myself for the southern and Mr. 
Spoon for the center. The idea was for the counties along this road 
to set aside a thousand dollars a year for maintenance to be spent 
under the supervision of the U. S. Government engineers. In 
Virginia at the present time they have about 200 miles of 275 under 
maintenance. The plan has just been started. In South Carolina 
and a part of North Carolina they have about 50 miles. On my 
section of 300 miles in Georgia I haven’t any under maintenance 
yet, for the following reasons: the counties have spent about $25,000 
so far in widening the roads, putting in pipes where they form¬ 
erly had wooden culverts, and putting on soil. In the next three 
or four months there is going to be a great deal more money spent 
and I did not want to put them under maintenance until they were 
in such shape that they could be maintained. The original idea 
was to have a single road from Augusta to Atlanta, but there was 
so much rivalry that they finally took both, so the line split at 
Thompson, Georgia, one part going by way of Washington, Lex¬ 
ington, Athens, Monroe, Stone Mountain, and the other by way 
of Warrenton, Coffinsville, and Latonia. The roads have been 
greatly improved and a great deal of interest shown by all these 
counties. In many cases roads only 15 feet wide have been widened 
to 30 feet, and I expect within the next six months those roads will 
be in such shape that most of them can be put under maintenance. 
The proposition is entirely a novel one and the work is being done 
entirely by counties; no money is being spent by the United States 
whatever, the government simply furnishing an engineer. In this 
way we hope to demonstrate that it is better to keep a road up 
than to let it go to pieces and try to re-build it at large expense. The 
problem of maintenance we are just beginning to realize is as im¬ 
portant as that of construction, and that as soon as a road is fin¬ 
ished, it ought to be put under maintenance. I thank you for your 
attention. 

The Chairman: That concludes the program for the afternoon. 
The meeting stands adjourned until 10 o’clock tomorrow morning. 


316 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


GEORGIA DAY 
November 13,10 A.M. 

Mr. W. Tom Winn in the Chair 

The Chairman: Ladies and Gentlemen, the meeting will please 
come to order. We are going to shift our program just a little, be¬ 
cause one or two of our speakers have been detained and will come 
in later. I wish to introduce to you for the first address of the morn¬ 
ing, Prof. It. D. Kneale, Associate Professor of Civil Engineering, 
Georgia School of Technology, who will speak to us on “The Educa¬ 
tional Campaign for Road Improvement.” 

THE EDUCATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR GOOD ROADS 

Prof. R. D. Kneale 

Associate Professor of Engineering, Georgia School of Technology 

The writer has chosen this subject because he believes it involves 
questions infinitely more important than those of type of pavement, 
or choice of machinery, or of organization, finance, or construction. 
He believes it involves the question of whether a large majority 
of our people shall take an abiding and an intelligent interest in our 
streets and highways, or whether that majority shall remain in 
indifference and ignorance. Approach one hundred men at random 
on our streets today and the consensus of opinion obtained from 
them would point to looseness, or inefficiency, or graft in the han¬ 
dling of public funds for road purposes. Rural opinion would only 
emphasize this verdict, for the soap-box philosopher, who really 
crystallizes rural sentiment, is slow to appreciate, slow to praise. 
Sometimes the only cure for his mature prejudice is to sell him an au¬ 
tomobile. It is a condition that exists because of ignorance and 
indifference, and it is unjust and wrong. It prevents financing. 
It prevents construction. It prevents progress. It should be 
rectified. The writer hopes to emphasize a basic means for accom¬ 
plishing this end. 

This meeting is primarily an educational one. We meet here to 
learn and to teach; to know and to be known; to give and to receive 
inspiration. This is a clearing house of matters pertaining to high¬ 
ways. Atlanta invites you here to learn of her greatness, and prog¬ 
ress, and her hospitality. Upon adjournment the proceedings of this 
congress will doubtless be compiled and any one of us sufficiently 
interested may secure a copy. We are engaged in an educational 
campaign of mutual self-help. It is an educational meeting but we 
reach only those who are already interested in the good road move¬ 
ment. We relieve the above mentioned evil condition almost not 
at all. This is not a failure on our part. We are performing the 


EDUCATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR GOOD ROADS 


317 


function for which we are organized. We are not attempting to 
reach many of the family of Mr. Common People. 

Other road organizations are also filling their chosen field in this 
campaign of education. Chief among these is our Office of Public 
Roads, highly efficient, and certainly doing a splendid work. In 
the interest of national development and progress this organization 
should be allowed to rapidly broaden through Congressional appro¬ 
priations commensurate with the paramount importance of good roads 
in national life. The large majority, however, of those reached by 
this office are already sufficiently interested to attend meetings, to 
inspect roads, or to at least send a stamp to Washington. The 
masses of our population are not interested, and their attention 
cannot well be forced by present methods. The States through their 
commissions are ably supplementing the work of the Office of Public 
Roads, and they are reaching about the same class of people. The 
press, in the advance ranks of civilizing influences, the National 
Highways Association, the American Automobile Association, and 
other organizations are doing a magnificent work, but they cannot 
cram the people with that for which there is no demand. They are 
meeting the growing demand for knowledge, and they are forcing 
that growth to some extent, but of necessity they fail to reach the 
large mass of indifferent and ignorant to whom I refer. 

Road education is crammed into a few by those who desire to sell 
road machinery and materials, or by real estate development com¬ 
panies, technical colleges are reaching a few, but the mass not 
reached by any of the above agencies is large. It numbers a great 
majority of our hundred millions, and under the present method of 
attack the diminution of that majority, though increasing, is yet too 
slow for so great a cause. The reduction of that majority should 
be hastened by striking at its very roots through the public school 
system. 

There are over twenty-five million children of school age in the 
United States, and some twenty million of these are in school an aver¬ 
age of ninety days per school year. Thirty-four per cent of these 
children are above the fifth grade, and their minds are keenly sus¬ 
ceptible to impressions that will last through life. The social, the 
financial, and the political phases of the road question can readily 
be made to touch their lives at many points with living interest. No 
pressure will be required to keep that interest alive, only a hand 
guided by a reasonable intelligence. If pressure is needed it will 
be to bring their attention back to the dry bones of the three R’s. 
The children will take their new interests into the home to arouse a 
parent who can be Reached in no other way. If the danger of loosely 
spending easy money lies in bond issues, the child can grasp the idea. 
If the advantage of a good road can be had only through paying 
for it on the bond issue instalment plan, he can also understand 
that. The consolidation of rural schools requires good roads and 
forces good roads, and the child easily sees the all round advan- 


318 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


tage and becomes an ardent advocate. In fact the child can grasp 
to some extent each social, financial, and political phase of the road 
question, and the community interest in a common good will make 
him a better citizen. His grasp will develop and broaden w T ith 
years until he takes over the reins of finance and government. 
Then there should be no lack of progress through ignorance, and 
the public will exercise so highly intelligent a supervision as to pre¬ 
clude the possibility of misuse of public money. What an oppor¬ 
tunity to strike at the roots of ignorance at the rate of twenty mil¬ 
lion a year! 

It may be urged that the average rural teacher is too immature, 
or that she lacks the training to handle so great a subject. She was 
not too immature to learn and to teach something of physiology 
and hygiene. She is not considered too poor an instrument to 
advance the cause of scientific agriculture. Surely a person can grasp 
something of the social advantages of good roads as readily as he 
can the physiological function of a human organ, or nitrification of 
legumes through bacterial inoculation. Besides, the ability of 
rural teachers will increase materially with the consolidation of 
schools. 

To initiate this educational movement, requires no new organiza¬ 
tions, and but little change in existing ones. The Office of Public 
Roads already has corps of expert lecturers and demonstrators, who 
are campaigning among the nation’s adults. There they are forced 
to overcome the inertia of long fixed habits of thinking before they 
can plant seeds of interest and enthusiasm for good highways. 
They are also forced to overcome a certain prejudice against out¬ 
side influence in local affairs. This same lecture corps could reach 
meetings of educators in institutes, and in city, State, and national 
teachers’ organizations. Bulletins published by the Office of Public 
Roads could be re-edited to meet school requirements, and could be 
used as free text books for talks, round-table discussions, and in¬ 
spection trips. Bulletins could be arranged also for the vocational 
courses in high schools. 

We who are attending this congress want good roads. We have 
a certain appreciation of their value or we wouldn’t be here. We 
desire to enhance the value of our city lot. We desire to reduce the 
loss between producer and consumer. We want jobs. We want to 
sell equipment. We want to develop our community, our city, our 
State. We want national development. First, last and always we 
are for road progress, yet progress is slow unless backed by an 
intelligent and an interested public opinion. There is no great 
difficulty in constructing a highway if the public is sufficiently inter¬ 
ested to finance it. If the money is raised it will be expended by 
willing hands. If there is inefficiency in the use of the money, 
that evil will be reduced and eliminated with the increase of public 
intelligence and interest. We are now educating a number of adults, 
but the number is all too small for so great a cause, and we are almost 


DISCUSSION 


319 


entirely ignoring the class easiest to reach, easiest to influence, and 
many millions strong. Their stronghold is in the public schools. 
Shall we storm that stronghold, or shall we continue to expend all 
our energy upon the mature prejudice of the adult? A panacea 
for many road ills lies with the public school. 

The Chairman: “Convict Labor as a Factor in Road Construc¬ 
tion.” Judge T. E. Patterson, of the Prison Commission of Georgia, 
will open the discussion on this subject. 

Mr. Blair: Just one word. I don’t think that a paper of the 
kind we have just heard ought to be passed without a word of special 
recognition. What the Professor has said with reference to supple¬ 
menting the work of education in this country along the lines of 
which he speaks—behind that he has, with hidden modesty, failed 
to say one word that ought to be said in favor of the technical and 
engineering schools of this country, which are doing the very work, 
so far as they can, that he speaks of. I think that acknowledgment 
ought to be made publicly, because the moral force that is being 
exerted by the technical schools in this country, cultivating the very 
sentiments, honesty and integrity among their students, ought to 
receive attention. They are doing a great work in this country 
and I am glad to give attestation to that fact. 

Professor Kneale: I neglected to say something of the work 
of that kind. I have been in it for some time. Up in Montana 
we carried on college extension work through the University of Mon¬ 
tana, and I did considerable of that work and also the State High¬ 
way Commissioner, but we failed to reach public schools. I intended 
to mention the work the colleges and universities are doing in that 
line, but so far I believe the technical schools have failed to a large 
extent to reach the public schools, the high schools, the people who 
come together in road meetings. 

The Chairman: I am much obliged to Mr. Blair for impressing 
that thought upon us. We will now hear from Judge Patterson. 

Judge Patterson: This subject was intended to be opened by 
a paper from General Clifford L. Anderson, on “Convict Labor as 
a Factor in Road Construction,” and the discussion of that paper 
opened by Chairman R. E. Davidson, of the Prison Commission of 
Georgia. In the absence of General Anderson, who has been ill 
for some days, and of Mr. Davidson, I will endeavor to outline 
what Georgia is trying to do along this line. Georgia commenced 
this work 30 years ago to a limited extent; about 20 years ago, to 
a larger extent, and about six years ago, all the convicts were taken 
from the lessees who had been working them in lumber, turpentine 
and mining camps, brick making, etc., and all the able-bodied ones 
were put upon the public roads of Georgia. We have been engaged 


320 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


all over the State since that time in constructing public roads by the 
use of convict labor. The material progress that Georgia has made 
within these past six years in the construction of public roads, is 
the highest testimonial that can be made for the system that is now 
employed. There are more than 120 counties in Georgia using their 
pro rata of the State convicts upon the public roads. There is hardly 
a county in Georgia that has not got a network of public roads that 
an automobile or even a Ford could be run upon at a rate of 20 to 
30 miles per hour, without danger, and that progress has been made 
very largely in the last six years. Six years ago that condition did 
not obtain all over Georgia. There were certain counties in which 
the roads were fairly good, but in the large majority of the counties 
you could possibly travel over them to some extent in buggies and 
wagons, but it was hard to get automobiles over them. The first 
tours that were made, certain counties ahead of them had to do some 
patchwork on the roads so they could go over them. Now, you 
can go in any direction and find perfect highways all over the State, 
and that condition exists through the use of convicts. In discussing 
this convict question, you have to consider its effect on the convict 
as well as the value of his work to the community. Modern study 
in penalogy, or criminology, is based on the principle that confine¬ 
ment in chain gangs or penitentiaries is not altogether for the pur¬ 
pose of punishment, for the purpose of deterring others from com¬ 
mitting crime, but to reform the criminal himself, if possible. Road 
work I think does that to a greater extent than any system of con¬ 
vict management known to man, and I think that it is based on the 
principle that when the convict is worked within an enclosure or 
under a lessee, he feels that no one is deriving any benefit from his 
work except private gain and that the only object in putting him 
in there is to punish him for his crime. You can go and preach to 
him and tell him he ought to be a better man and he will listen to 
you, but all the time he will have that feeling, '“If you are inter¬ 
ested in me, why don’t you make some other provision for me? 
Why do you want to keep me here and crush me.” The result is 
that all over the world there is what is known as a criminal class. 
They get into prison, they get out, and after they get out they com¬ 
mit some other crime and get back. It is the same old grind over 
and over, until we have built up what we refer to as the criminal 
class. We have the same condition in our cities; you can go to a 
police court in Atlanta or Macon, Savannah, Columbus, or any 
city in Georgia, or any city in the United States, and the police 
judge will tell you, as man after man will come up before him, or 
woman after woman, how many times many of those prisoners have 
been there before. He sends them to the stockade, they serve their 
time and are released, but it does no good; they go right back. It 
was formerly that way in the penitentiary system of Georgia. I 
daresay, under this system in the last six years, the men who have 
been convicted and sent to the penitentiary in Georgia and served 


DISCUSSION 


321 


out their time—not 15 per cent of them have ever returned to the 
penitentiary. I think it is on account of three facts: one is that 
they see that the public is getting some benefit from their enforced 
labor; some individual is not getting it all, they see that when they 
get out, they themselves are going to get some benefit from it as a 
member of the community. They may not reason that out just 
like I am stating it, but it is instinctive in the human heart that 
whenever a man works he wants to have something coming to him¬ 
self from the work he does; that is characteristic of humanity, and 
you appeal to that feeling in a man, and from that you build char¬ 
acter. Another thing, they are worked in the open; the finest moral 
qualities instilled in anybody are from being worked in the open, 
in the sunshine and free air, and next to the soil. I think you will 
find that a large majority of the leaders of the world’s thought, the 
leaders in commerce, in banking and in all branches of human en¬ 
deavor—come from the farm. It is because the boys on the farm 
are raised in the open, next to the soil; they acquire from that con¬ 
dition surrounding them those moral qualities that make good citi¬ 
zens and make leaders in thought and in action. The same thing 
applies to a convict; he is worked out in the open air, he is worked 
in the sunshine; he gets that moral stamina in him that aids him 
when he gets out, to make a man. In some States, Colorado is one 
of them, they select certain convicts for road work. Some of the 
most desperate ones they don’t work there. They keep them con¬ 
fined. In Georgia we keep all of them on the public roads on the 
theory that all men have the same intuitive instincts. If you can 
give him a basis on which to build, there is hope for any man, and 
if you give them all the same treatment, you have a chance to 
redeem them all. So much for the convict road work as a moral 
force. It is an economical force because the community is neces¬ 
sarily compelled to support these fellows anyway, wherever you put 
them. If you put them on your roads, the community gets a benefit 
that is commensurate with the outlay of money for their support. 
It is not necessary for me to describe the benefit of good roads to 
a community; your being here at this convention is a testimonial 
to the fact that you know that good roads build up a community 
and add to its prosperity, its social advantages, its uplift in every 
way. You understand those things better, probably, than I could 
tell you. Pardon me for referring to the Georgia laws in this con¬ 
nection. The one weakness of the Georgia system is the lack of 
in working their roads, the lack of cooperation. We have just begun 
by putting in a State highway engineer, Professor Stanley, of Athens. 
The law provides that we may employ four, and we intend to do so 
if the legislature will ever provide funds. That is what we are 
working for now. Our idea is, that if we have this corps of highway 
engineers to visit counties, and show the men in charge, the county 
commissioners and the wardens and superintendents in charge of the 
road working force, what can be done with the convicts they have 


322 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


and with the material they have, we will be doing great things for 
them. I was very much impressed this morning by Mr. Adams’ 
talk, the Commissioner from Polk County. We wrote to all the 
county commissioners of the State when we started to put in this 
system of supervisors and Mr. Adams was one of the number that 
did not think it would work, but this morning he got up and ad¬ 
mitted that he had been visited by a professor of engineering from 
the State University for a short time and he didn’t stay long enough. 
Just a short visit has converted him to the fact that engineers are 
almost indispensable. Then our idea is to divide the State into four 
districts, put an engineer in each district, and have an annual insti¬ 
tute in each district, where all the wardens superintendents and road 
commissioners can get together and discuss with these four engi¬ 
neers, all the problems with which they have to deal. This, to my 
mind, would be a long step forward. There is a movement on foot 
to establish a system of State highways, not from Atlanta to Savan¬ 
nah, but to go into all Georgia and build public roads between the 
main towns, the county seats; these roads to be built and main¬ 
tained by the State. The county could take care of the county 
roads, the laterals, and tributaries. We can do that without spend¬ 
ing any more money than is being spent now; we can do it with the 
revenue the State already provides for this work. If the govern¬ 
ment ever furnishes any additional funds for building these roads, 
we can have a perfect system. It is right for the government to do 
it, they improve the rivers and what is a river except an artery of 
commerce? They improve the harbors at the mouths of the river. 
Why? To give greater facilities for commerce; if they can improve 
rivers to aid commerce, why can’t they improve a public road to 
aid commerce? One is just as much an artery of commerce as the 
other; in fact the road is more an artery of commerce than the river; 
there’s ten times the commerce goes over every road in Georgia 
as goes over any of these insignificant rivers that the government 
spends thousands and thousands of dollars upon. The government 
is bound to assist and with the assistance we get from the govern¬ 
ment and the taxes now distributed to the various counties from 
the automobiles, we will have the funds to maintain these gangs 
and Georgia will have the finest system of public roads in the United 
States. It is a great thing we are undertaking, but we are going to 
make plans to get the necessary legislation when our legislature 
meets next summer. 

The Chairman: Before calling upon Governor-elect Harris I 
should like to know whether anyone wants to discuss this very 
important subject, or ask Judge Patterson any questions. I am 
sure that his position on the Prison Commission and his contact 
with convict life in Georgia, well fit him to give any information 
or to answer any question that might be asked. Many of you have 
visited our convict camps, and have no doubt learned a great deal 
about our system. 


DISCUSSION 


323 


A Member: I think Mr. Patterson has so ably discussed the 
problem that there are no questions to be asked, sir. 

The Chairman: If there are no questions to be asked, I have 
the great honor and pleasure of presenting to you Judge Nat E. 
Harris, Governor-elect, to whom we have assigned no subject, but 
have given the entire right-of-way for just as long a time as he likes, 
because if you have ever heard him speak once, you will know that 
you don’t have to put a limit on him and that you will stay until 
he gets through. Judge Harris. 

Judge Harris: Mr. Chairman , Gentlemen of the Good Roads Con¬ 
gress, Fellow Citizens: That was a very nice introduction of the 
Chairman for which I thank him. It put a good deal of responsi¬ 
bility on me too. The truth is, I did not know I was expected to 
speak in this gathering until a day or so ago when I saw the program. 
I had written to my friends here that I could not promise to attempt 
to make an address, but stated that I would like to come up and 
look into your faces and hear somebody talk on a subject I knew 
was of great interest just now, so I might find out what it meant, 
what it was and how far it reached, what was involved in it and 
especially what you knew about it. This was the idea with which 
I came to this convention. 

Now, I heard one of your speakers refer just now to Judge Patter¬ 
son’s familiarity with the convicts of the State. I used to be on the 
bench myself and sent a good many people to the chain gang who 
are working on the roads of Georgia today, making good roads for 
us. During the past summer, if you will permit me, when I was 
going over the State in the canvass for governor—by the way one 
of the hottest canvasses we ever had in Georgia, I reckon, for the 
thermometer rose to 116 in the automobile in which I traveled on 
one occasion, and the boys frequently asked me in the court house, 
with the thermometer at 106, if they might take off their coats 
when I began to speak; of course you know I told them to take off 
their coats and keep them off till the day of the election for me— 
I say, as I went along one day I passed a chain gang that was work¬ 
ing on the public roads, when one man, wearing stripes, stepped 
out a little from the rest of the gang and said, “ Judge Harris, I’m 
representing you here”! I found out on enquiry that he was a con¬ 
vict I had sentenced while on the bench, so I want this Road Congress 
to understand that I too have some right to talk on the subject of 
road building, that there are doubtless many able bodied workers 
in the chain gangs, sent thereby myself who are doing good work for 
Georgia, and laboring to make good roads for her people, for the 
farmers and merchants and the doctors and lawyers, that their 
business may be worth more in the State to them and to the people 
who depend upon them! 

I came to this State about fifty years ago; I started out from a 


324 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


little place up yonder in East Tennessee, called Jonesboro, the oldest 
town in the State. I traveled down along the slopes of the Blue 
Ridge and entered Georgia first in Rabun County, then came on 
through the mountain district, riding a kicking mule on the way, 
while my brother drove a wagon, with sure-footed mules too. Look¬ 
ing back over these fifty years, I remember how the trail from 
Tennessee ran then along the sides of the mountain, over the ridges 
and the valleys—nothing but a trail. The inhabitants said Fd 
reach the Old Federal Road after awhile. Well, I did and it was a 
road, no doubt, but it was a road you wanted to get out of as quick 
as you could. Wherever there was a fork in it and you took one 
fork and went a little distance you were sorry you had not taken 
the other. We often turned out into the fields to avoid the road, 
because one could get along there better than in the road. When 
I reached Georgia and looked back over the trail I had followed, I 
said to myself, “I will write a book and call it, ‘Short Cuts on a 
Journey to Georgia/ ” and that is what it was, for I was all the time 
trying to avoid the windings of the trail and get down here. That 
was fifty years ago; I went back over that country in the last three 
or four months—I came down over the same mountain cliffs and 
hills and valleys, but I saw they had laid out turnpikes where the 
old roads ran. I traveled in an automobile, moving from place to 
place with a rapidity that would have made our ancestors turn 
almost crazy and feel that some sort of magic had been at work in 
the world. It was easy traveling; the rocks had been blasted out 
of the roadway; the grades all laid out well, and I said to myself, 
“ How has all this been brought about?” I see a man in the audience 
who could answer this question. He has furnished plan after plan 
and survey after survey to these counties through which I traveled, 
and their nice turnpikes and level roadways will stand the storm 
for many a day. 

Some one writing on roads, said, “The degree of civilization in 
a country may be ascertained by finding out the state of its public 
roads.” Is that so? If it is, I am ready to say to you here, in a 
representative capacity, in a private capacity, or in any other capac¬ 
ity, that Georgia is not afraid to show hands with most of you— 
that we have started in this State a pretty good system of roads 
and we hope to go forward until we even take the front. We have 
aroused competition among the counties. 

Way back yonder in the past, you know, there were two ways 
followed in road working. The first was, where the county com¬ 
pelled by law, had four days’ work done upon the roads each year— 
by summoning the citizens along the road to do the work, or in lieu 
thereof levied a small commutation tax, that was never collected 
or if collected, rarely applied: the second system existed where the 
county could keep a chain gang and supplemented the intermittent 
road hands with a force that worked all the year round. In the 
course of time the legislature gave us the three alternative road 


DISCUSSION 


325 


laws, which was an advance on the former times. Now we have 
gone still higher in the scale, and the State and counties have all 
put their chain gangs to work exclusively on the public roads, and 
a system of improvement has been inaugurated that will really 
count in the future, and promises soon to justify our people in 
claiming that this great old State shall no longer stand behind her 
sisters when you come to estimate her civilization by the splendor 
of her public roads. 

But there are two views taken of the progress in road building. 
A good old lady who lives down in the center of the State, whose 
memory goes back to the old system, said to a friend lately: “I 
don’t believe in these new scrapers and automobiles for our public 
roads; all they need is the pine top and the hoe; that was what the 
people used in the old days. We land owners have to pay for these 
new things and in this way the folks that travel get the advantage 
of us.” The old lady is not alone in her views; there are many who 
feel just as she does, so it will be necessary to educate the people 
till they realize the true value of the reform that is going on. There 
are not wanting those who will complain at the slightest increase of 
taxes, consequently it is the more important that the people gen¬ 
erally should understand how the building of the roads, by adding 
values to real estate and its products, gives the owners in return, 
something with which to pay the increased taxes. And the whole 
county shares in the benefits. Why, a farmer now in the counties 
where the good roads policy is followed, enjoys all the advantages 
of country and city combined. His automobile carries him from 
the farm to the city and from the city to the farm with incredible 
ease, while his telephone brings him into direct communication with 
the great centers of trade as well as with his own neighbors and 
friends round about. 

This competition among the counties, to which I referred just 
now, is destined to play an important part in our good roads move¬ 
ment. The smaller counties may well say to the counties with great 
cities, “You can put your money in fine public buildings and parks 
and streets, but we will put ours in our roadways, and make them 
better than your streets so that—bringing our produce to market 
easily—our farms shall increase in value as your own real estate 
ascends in the same scale.” And this idea is getting more familiar 
every day. I used “to ride the circuit,” as we lawyers call it—going 
around the counties adjacent to Bibb, where I live, to attend the 
courts and keep up with the business of my clients, traveling in a 
buggy or on horseback. In those days Bibb County, in which the 
city of Macon is located, worked her chain gang on the public roads. 
I could tell the exact point where I would cross the line into the 
other counties, for the Bibb roads were far better than those in the 
adjacent territory. Now, this is all changed. The small counties 
are beating Bibb, for they have chain gangs and improved road 
working too; you can tell now for instance, where you cross the line 


326 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


into Twiggs, because Twiggs has better roads than Bibb. And the 
challenge is out to Bibb, “You may beat us in your buildings but 
well beat you in our roads.” And so it is, through the State. 

I am proud of the way in which we are going forward in Georgia, 
and I greet you all today in her name. I am glad to be a part of 
this Congress, to look in your faces and tell you that this old Empire 
State, is awakening on this great question, that her people will join 
you in the crusade, or better, the evangel in favor of good roads, 
and try to bring the whole country to understand and appreciate 
the importance of the subject. 

And now, my friends, I want to say a few words, of a general 
nature, on the advantages of good roads to the community. These 
are so obvious, and this Congress has been urging them so often, 
that I suppose it is almost a work of superrogation to go over them 
again. But there are a good many Georgians in this audience, and 
I have thought it might not be out of place to repeat the argument 
in their presence. The truth is, the whole State needs good roads, 
and more roads, and better roads, everywhere. There is no end to 
such improvements. If the seaboard is to be brought to the moun¬ 
tains, or the mountains to the seaboard, this is the way to do it. 
There is that great country lying below us, known as the “Wire 
Grass,”—I love to talk of it now, because it was once under the ban— 
nothing but a vast pine barren. I have just had the opportunity 
of traveling over it, and can appreciate its coming strength and 
greatness. It is a region of magnificent possibilities. 

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Congress, if you will only 
give that “ Wire Grass” country good roads and reasonable railroad 
facilities, you will soon see an Empire developed in this Empire 
State, such as you never conceived or thought of, in all your life! 
All that is needed to insure the speedy settling up of those vast 
level areas of farming lands is to give the people good roads, so 
that more inhabitants may come in, take up the lands, utilize their 
unparalleled productiveness, and make the country worth all that it 
ought to be to Georgia. 

It is rushing forward with wonderful strides every day, and this 
good roads gospel is taking it by storm, as it seems to be taking 
the State, the South, yea, even the whole Nation. But to restate 
the argument: 

First: A good road enhances the value of the lands adjacent to 
it. This is an A B C doctrine. While the tax may be increased, 
the owner is afforded means the more easily to make the money, 
so that he does not feel the burden. 

Second: The facility for travel and transportation enables the 
citizens along the road to live with greater ease and more comfort, 
to transact business with more convenience, and with the auto¬ 
mobile, and telephone, makes space and time of far less consequence 
in the affairs of life. 

Third: The good road tends to promote intelligence, for it en- 


DISCUSSION 


327 


ables the children to reach the school house, with greater conveni¬ 
ence, so as to secure the advantages of early training and education. 
Rough roads are sometimes a barrier to knowledge. 

Fourth: The good road promotes both social and religious asso¬ 
ciation. Visiting is made easier, and people of the community, or 
even of the State, are made better acquainted, and see more of 
each other. 

My countrymen, I have noticed that the misunderstanding in 
communities, the troubles that spring up and beget endless suffer¬ 
ings among our people, would nearly all be prevented if the people 
only knew each other better. This is so, North, South, East and 
West—it is so, locally, it is so generally, it is so everywhere. 
If the people at large are given the facilities for travel and trans¬ 
portation they will come together oftener, learn to know each other 
better, and harmony will reign where discord now prevails. 

Fifth: The good roads will tend to preserve the health of the 
community. You can provide the remedies for sickness with greater 
ease, in the country. I heard a gentleman say not long ago, that 
since they had opened the turnpike road by his house he could call 
a doctor from town and get him to the place in an emergency within 
15 or 20 minutes, though he lived three or four miles away from the 
place. 

Sixth and last: Good roads increase the population of the country. 
The more good roads we have the more people there will be to travel 
them. Oh! we have room enough here for any ordinary increase 
in our population. We do not object to the coming in of good 
settlers. We have lands enough in Georgia to house and feed our 
own people with their natural increase for one hundred and fifty 
years to come! So we can afford to divide with others, for none of 
us will live that long. 

When people from a distance come to see us, find out what we 
have here, and learn that we have the best public roads in the 
country, see how easy it is to go from place to place—why, they’ll 
know that we are up to date, and will fall in love with our good, 
old honest ways, and stay with us! 

There is sometimes a humorous side to our road working. While 
I was on the bench a mandamus proceeding was brought before 
me, alleging that the commissioners of one of the counties of the 
circuit were not working one of the main thoroughfares running by 
the homes of the petitioners. It was alleged that they had worked 
all the roads of the county except the one in question; and this they 
had worked to within about three miles of the county line and then 
stopped. It seemed that just across the county line there was a 
thriving little town which was a rival of the county site, bidding very 
vigorously for the trade and business of the citizens round about. 
So the commissioners, standing up for their home town, let the road 
to the county line go without working till it became almost impass¬ 
able, while the road to the county site was kept in splendid condition. 


328 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


This was good political protection, you know, but the cold law 
would not stand for it. Competition in business and equality in 
transportation are the favorites of our statutes. Nevertheless, it 
was a practical demonstration of the fact that a good road counts 
for something in the community. 

And now I think I have about covered what I wanted to say to 
this Congress. My recent travel over Georgia has at least given 
me some experience with the good road situation in the State. I 
recall the fact that several times when I hired an automobile at 
one county site to go to another, if the road in the first county was 
rough and difficult, and after crossing the line, got better, and 
smoother for travel, the automobile driver would apologize for his 
county, and say, “We can’t get our commissioners to take the right 
view of matters, but we have hopes at the next election to show them 
a few things.” 

So, the demand for good roads is growing, for the people are 
finding out that a load of produce, of cotton, or corn, or any farm 
product, is nearly three times as large on a good, modern, well 
graded turnpike as it was on the rough highways of the past. And 
the county authorities are realizing that it will not do to be left 
behind in the progress of the times on this subject. 

And now, my friends, I repeat that I am proud, as the next execu¬ 
tive of this State, to come before this Congress and speak to you. 
If you need the countenance and help of the next administration, I 
assure you that you already have the chief, and I think you may 
count on the assistance of the legislature to do whatever is necessary 
to bring the subject before the people in the most effective light. 
Show us what is needed and we will try to put our shoulders to the 
wheel so as to push this old Empire State forward, until her name 
shall ring out among the people of the North and the East and the 
West, as the one State of the South that has the finest laid out public 
roads in the Union. It would be a distinguished honor to preside 
over a State that could safely point to her roadways, as the index 
of the highest civilization of the world! 

The Chairman: We appreciate very much the kindness of Gov¬ 
ernor Harris in coming to our meeting this morning and adding his 
presence to this occasion. The next speaker, as you will see on the 
program, gentlemen, is Prof. Charles M. Strahan, Dean of Engi¬ 
neering, University of Georgia, who will speak on the subject “Why 
Georgia Builds Top Soil and Sand-Clay Roads.” 


TOP SOIL AND SAND-CLAY ROADS 


329 


WHY GEORGIA BUILDS TOP SOIL AND SAND-CLAY ROADS 

C. M. Strahan, D.Sc., M.A.S.C.E. 

Dean of Engineering , University of Georgia 

The counties of Georgia during the past six years have directed 
the bulk of their road building energy to the construction of soil 
roads of various kinds. They have recognized that any road worthy 
the name must have a reasonably strong, smooth, and durable 
wearing surface. They have secured satisfactory surfaces by the 
use of selected top soils, of semi-gravel, of sub-strata of sand-clay 
encountered in grading; and from artificial mixtures effected by 
claying deep sand road beds and by incorporating sand in sticky 
clay road beds. Some 12,000 miles of improved roads have been 
built and much of this mileage has been surfaced with one or more 
of the above materials. 

There are four principal reasons why the energy of Georgia has 
gone into this type of construction: the first is an economic reason; 
the second is a psychologic reason; the third is a geologic reason; 
and the fourth is a scientific reason. 

First: In round numbers, Georgia, with $1,000,000,000 of tax 
values and 147 counties, is credited with 84,000 miles of road. 
Exclusive of the 7 chief city counties, the average county shows 
approximately $6,000,000 of tax values and 600 miles of public 
highways. 

These basic financial facts have compelled the counties of Georgia 
to carefully consider their financial policies. The outcome has been 
that while highly desirous of good roads, the justifiable basis of 
expenditures has been forced below $1000 per mile. Hence they 
have turned to the local soils, intelligently selected and used, as 
the first step and only possible step toward extensive highway better¬ 
ment within that average expenditure. They have recognized that 
the elements of cost for a road program are: (1) expert supervision, 
(2) preparation of the road material for use, (3) haulage cost, itself 
dependent on tonnage, average length of haul, and ease of loading 
and unloading, (4) cost of spreading, (5) cost of consolidation and 
shaping, and (6) the cost of maintenance. In all of these items, they 
have felt that the local soils with short hauls, needing no crushing or 
mixing, handled by simple tools and moderate cost machinery, easily 
loaded and distributed, consolidated by the road’s own traffic, and 
all done chiefly by unskilled labor, presented the minimum outlay 
for equipment, labor, and all other construction costs. Nor have 
they been disappointed. Total costs as reported from various coun¬ 
ties range from $300 to $600 per mile according to the particular 
material, the width of wheelway, and the length of average haul. 
They contrast the resulting roads with broken stone roads at from 
$5000 to $8000 per mile and figure that the interest on the latter 
investment would annually build a mile of good soil road. They 


330 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


compare the maintenance figures of $10 to $50 per mile with the 
$100 per mile credited to macadam roads and place at 15 years the 
life of each type. They find the traffic of all kinds pleased and 
contented, and see no undue injury wrought by the automobile. 
They feel that the betterment is real and durable, and that this 
type of road, free always from deep mud or deep sand, has at least 
met and conquered the two arch enemies of highway transportation. 

Second: The psychologic reason is also a reason of practical 
politics. It consists in the fact that taxpayers, particularly the 
rural taxpayer, become rapidly restive unless the rate of road build¬ 
ing and the consequent spread of the benefits of the road expendi¬ 
ture is reasonably rapid. The soil roads are built very quickly. 
Counties report from 20 to 60 miles annually. In five years, a great 
change is wrought in the traffic conditions of any county. The 
restive citizen may be gracefully bidden to wait; and his powers of 
revolution are inversely as the annual growth of improved mileage. 
There is thus a better chance for continuous county road management. 

Third: The geologic reason rests upon the vast areas of under¬ 
lying siliceous metamorphic rock in North Georgia, upon the gravel 
soils that abound along the edge of the Coastal Plain in Middle 
Georgia, and from the sand-clay strata which underlie so many of 
the counties of the Coastal Plain itself. Many of the resulting clay 
soils of North Georgia are abundantly charged with coarse sand and 
decomposed rock, and are of admirable road value. Intelligent 
search has revealed them in wide distribution and of exceptional 
wearing qualities. Gravelly soils and sand clay top soils are like¬ 
wise found in many counties along the Fall Line that traverses the 
State from Columbus to Augusta. In the Coastal Plain counties, 
outcroppings of gravel are occasional, outcroppings of clay hills are 
quite frequent, and sub-strata of so-called clay, in reality a natural 
mixture of clay and sand, is widely found at short depths below the 
surface ready to be excavated and placed on the prevailing sand 
bed roads of that section. In some of the swamps of South Georgia 
the muck contains fine clay and is utilized as road covering. 

The writer has been struck by the prevalence of suitable road 
soils in every county visited and is convinced that systematic sur¬ 
veys for the location of such soils adjacent to the highways would be 
amply justified in every county by the discoveries made. 

This thought is commended strongly to the representatives of the 
Fourth American Road Congress. Few States in the Union can 
afford to ignore the substantial economies that accrue from the use 
of good local road soils, on at least a part of their highway systems. 

Fourth: The scientific reason why Georgia is building top soil 
and sand-clay roads rests on the fact that by careful examination 
in field and laboratory, enough is now known of the composition, 
road behavior, and method of consolidating of these road soils to 
select them intelligently in advance of construction and to feel 
confident of the results. The School of Civil Engineering of the 


PROCEEDINGS 


331 


University of Georgia, through its road laboratory and field officers, 
since 1908, has been privileged to work jointly with many county 
road officials in the study and use of these materials. It has been 
called upon to select and advise concerning suitable soils in ad¬ 
vance of construction and has watched the roads after construction. 
Much data has been accumulated and digested, many partial and 
complete mechanical analyses have been made. The limits of this 
address does not permit detailed entry into laboratory methods, 
but the following short table of typical soils selected from roads of 
known efficiency in north, middle and south Georgia will serve to 
indicate the character of separations made: 


TYPICAL GEORGIA ROAD SOILS 


BY PROF. S. B. SLACK 

Analysis After Separation From Gravel 


Gravel 


SAND 


Silt 


Clay 


Above Diameters in Millimeters 



North Georgia 

1.85 

1.85-.86 

.86-.24 

.24-.14 

.14-.07 

Total 

.07-.01 

.01-.00 

470 


4.0 

8.0 

33.0 

17.6 

13.6 

71.2 

15.0 

14.0 

466 


13.0 

19.6 

44.6 

8.0 

6.0 

78.2 

4.5 

15.0 

150 


3.0 

8.5 

36.0 

12.5 

11.3 

68.3 

12.2 

11.0 

10 


7.8 

34.3 

9.2 

9.0 

60.3 

12.8 

25.0 

Middle Georgia 

0.8 

0.8 

30.1 

15.4 

20.0 

66.3 

14.1 

18.0 

108 


8.0 

22.0 

14.7 

15.3 

50.0 

14.6 

27.5 

124 


10.4 

2.8 

81.3 

18.4 

25.0 

54.5 

12.4 

31.0 

424 


10.4 

4.6 

22.0 

14.7 

15.3 

56.6 

14.6 

27.5 

120 


10.0 

4. 

30.0 

18.5 

12.1 

64.6 

13.0 

20.0 

106 

South Georgia 


2.4 

9.2 

19.7 

27.0 

58.3 

12.8 

25.0 

434 



2.7 

20.7 

21.2 

26.4 

71.0 

14.8 

14.2 

103 



2.0 

32.0 

20.8 

17.4 

72.2 

13.4 

14.0 

113 

470 

116 

Special 

Augusta Gravel. 

15.2 

28.0 

54.4 

6.0 

2.2 

90.6 

3.4 

0.7 

Pipe Clay. 

14.3 

16.9 

4.8 

4.7 

40.7 

8.8 

50.0 











Sieve Numbers. 

10 

20 

60 

100 

200 







. 








Unable to present in this article the specific road histories of these 
and many other samples studied, the conclusions tentatively reached 
by the laboratory may, however, be stated as follows: 

First. The presence of from 60 to 80 per cent of total sand is necessary. 
The best soils show 45 to 55 per cent sand coarser than No. 60 sieve. The 
sand between No. 100 and No. 200 has little hardening value. See samples 
150. 106, 10, 466, 476. XT . , n 

Second. Ten to 15 per cent of gravel above No. 10 sieve and smaller than 
3 in. diameter is very effective in hardening. See samples 150, 10, 106, 466, 
120 . 









































332 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


Third. When the sand above No. 60 is less than 40 per cent the resulting 
surface is notably softer than with coarser sand. 

Fourth. True clay in excess of 30 per cent gives a soft road with mud. 

Fifth. The best clay percentages lie between 10 and 20 per cent. 

Sixth. A highly colloidal clay in low percentages probably gives equal 
bond with a less colloidal clay in larger percentages. 

Seventh. The non-plastic silt aids in reducing expansion of the true clay. 

Eighth. Soils with all fine sand need higher percents of clay; but are not 
so hard in dry weather and wash readily in heavy rains. They require fre¬ 
quent resurfacing with road drags. 

Ninth. All of the typical road soils in the table have shown ample better¬ 
ment over the roads they replaced to justify the expense of construction. 

The laboratory has reached a conception of the way these soil 
mixtures act which may be of service to those interested. 

While the resulting surfaces are of varying efficiency, the better 
grades, usually carrying coarse sand and gravel, give surfaces too hard 
to cut with the heaviest road machines, capable of supporting the 
heaviest loads after long rains, free from mud or excessive dust, and 
uninjured by automobile traffic in both wet and dry weather. The 
medium grades carrying medium sand and no gravel are firm and 
hard but can be cut by heavy road machines; they are somewhat 
softened in long rainy spells but do not cut deeply, and are some¬ 
what more dusty in dry weather. 

The soft grades carrying chiefly fine sand are firm and strong 
in dry weather, are subject to washing in heavy rains, and soft¬ 
ening, and can be resurfaced with light metal or split log drags. 
They usually show a lack of proper balance between sand and clay 
and mark the lower limit of suitable road soils. 

The successful soil must carry enough hard aggregate to interlock 
and support the traffic loads and to resist grinding and crushing 
action. This property is imparted chiefly by the sand and gravel 
content. The variations of these ingredients in amount and size 
affects most strongly the hardness and durability of the surface. 
It is known that sand beds when moist are relatively firm unless the 
sand is excessively fine, and supersaturated with water. Quick¬ 
sand conditions are then developed. It is therefore probable that 
in wet weather the strength of the road depends primarily on the 
sand content, and that graded mixtures from coarse to fine are better 
than uniform grain or small sizes. 

Through a nest of standard sieves No. 20, 60, 100 and 200, the 
sand is separated into four grades of fineness, and so reported in 
the analyses. The sizes above No. 100 are the effective body material. 
That below No. 100 has some value in reducing the total voids in 
the graded mixture. 

Naturally the laboratory analyses pay particular attention to the 
quality, sizes, and total amount of the sand in the mixture. In the 
tables of analyses submitted herewith it is to be noted how large 
a percentage of total sand and of coarse sizes is found in the more 
successful soils. Moreover the item called “ silt’' is in reality mostly 
extremely fine sand. 


TOP SOIL AND SAND-CLAY ROADS 


333 


The second important characteristic of a suitable road soil must 
be that it shall prove water resistant in wet weather and firmly 
bound and smooth in dry weather. Dependence for these proper¬ 
ties is upon the clay elements and the silt. 

The laboratory in its complete analyses separates and examines 
the quality of the true clay. It is to be noted how small an amount 
of true clay is found in the best grades—12 to 20 per cent. The 
contrast of clay contents in poor soils is shown in the sample of 
pipe clay included in the table with 50 per cent true clay. A further 
contrast in the other direction is seen in the analyses of the Augusta 
gravel with only 6.7 per cent of true clay. The bond of this gravel 
arises chiefly from its interlocking strength. 

The laboratory defines “true” clay as that portion of the sample 
which remain in suspension after settling for 13 minutes through 
water 8 centimeters deep. It is removed by repeated washings, 
settling, and careful siphoning off. Most natural clays are im¬ 
pure and contain large percentages of coarser materials such as 
sand, mica, and silt. They vary greatly in plasticity and in the 
expansion and shrinkage under the action of water. The true clay 
contains an extremely fine portion called colloidal clay. The 
colloidal clay is very glutinous or gummy. The coarser clay has 
less gumminess. It is thought that the binding value of the clay 
depends to a notable extent on the amount of fine colloidal in¬ 
gredients. In dry weather, this gives great adherence, but un¬ 
fortunately in wet weather the colloidal matter softens quickly. 
It probably is one of the chief causes of the high expansion of the 
clay when wet. The argument would then be that a clay too rich 
in colloidal matter when used in a sand clay mixture is apt to soften 
too readily and by swelling tends to break the interlocking strength 
of the sand grain. The larger the total clay the greater the ex¬ 
pansion. The desirable kind of clay would be that which has a 
rather low colloidal percentage to meet wet conditions but yet 
enough to bind firmly the sand grains in dry weather. It also ap¬ 
pears desirable that the total real clay should be as low as possible 
consistent with adhesive strength in dry weather to avoid expansion 
effects. This also points to the value of a closely graded sand 
mixture with a minimum of voids and thus requiring a minimum 
of clay. 

It is evident that the small percentages of clay in the best road 
soils is not enough to fill the usual 30 to 35 per cent voids that 
exist even in a well graded sand. But the silt material together 
with the true clay do furnish enough to fill these voids. The silt 
as separated in the laboratory analysis is itself largely composed 
of silica or sand which passes a No. 200 standard sieve, and other 
equally fine material of partly reduced soil minerals such as feld¬ 
spar, mica, etc. It shows little plasticity or adhesive value unless 
iron salts are present, but is useful in filling voids. It may be said 
that the true clay, the silt, and, when needed, some of the fine sand 


334 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


(between No. 100 and No. 200 sieves) really compose the “binder” 
which unites the coarser sand particles, and fills the voids. For or¬ 
dinary cases of soil examination the separation of the binder from 
the coarser sand by washing and rapid decantation is sufficient to 
give a fair basis of judgment regarding its suitability for road 
building. The more complete analyses aid in forming a sound con¬ 
ception of just what goes on in the consolidation and road be¬ 
havior of the material. 

In all of these materials efficiency requires a uniform and inti¬ 
mate mixture of the sand and the binder. 

The consolidation is effected by the construction teams and the 
regular traffic. A bed of the loose material 10 inches thick and 16 
to 20 feet wide is deposited in one layer. The traffic gradually 
packs it. A period of wet weather is desirable for a green road as 
the wheels and hoofs then puddle and pack the mass from the bottom 
upward, aiding also the uniform mixing. During the consolidation 
process the surface is kept in shape by the frequent use of the road 
machine until the final surface with a crown of one-half inch per foot 
is firm and smooth. The semi-gravels are top soils carrying 10 to 
15 per cent of hard quartz gravel. All material coarser than a 
No. 10 sieve is classed as gravel. Rocks above 3 inches in diameter 
are objectionable and should be removed while loading, or dressed 
to the bottom of the 10-inch soil layer as the work goes on. The 
gravel if hard and non-crushing is a distinct advantage to the road 
soil playing the part of the broken stone in a cement concrete mix¬ 
ture and giving it greater hardness and stronger supporting power 
in wet weather. But soft gravel of feldspar hardpan, or mica schist 
is undesirable. In some counties an iron-silica gravel mixed with the 
soil is found which gives admirable roads. 

The packed top soil surface from the best soils is surprisingly 
hard and surprisingly water resistant. It requires a rock plow or 
a heavy macadam type of scraper drawn by a traction engine to 
break up the bed when once thoroughly packed. The laboratory 
has taken up solid blocks, 20 x 20 inches and 6 inches thick, after 
weeks of rainy weather, from these roads. 

Although very dense, the blocks taken from the road are dis¬ 
tinctly porous in character. Why then does not the rain saturate 
the bed and loosen the bond between the sand and clay? The fol¬ 
lowing explanation is suggested: The rain soaks into the pores 
of the dry road, at first carrying fine particles of dust to seal up 
the capillary tubes and pores. The first moisture absorbed by the 
clay expands it and also tends to close the capillary tube and pores. 
Hence the further ingress of water is prevented, the main slab 
is not softened, and the only mud is a thin coat on top where the 
wheels have loosened the surface by grinding and slight cutting, 
When rain ceases the skim coat of softened material will pack and 
rebind with the slab below. Excess of clay in the mixture by 
swelling with water loosens the interlocking of the sand structure, 


PROCEEDINGS 


335 


is too soft to withstand the cutting by the traffic, and permits water 
to work and puddle downward layer by layer until deep mud re¬ 
sults. Excess sand works inversely. Not being sufficiently cemented 
in dry weather, the clay binder is broken, pulverized, and blown or 
washed away leaving a loose sand layer which finally becomes 
objectionable. The well-balanced sand and clay mixture avoids 
both of these weaknesses. The surface mud is thin and remains 
underlaid by firm material. Hence the traffic is supported. It 
does not stick to the wheels. Hence unlike the usual earth road, 
the top soil roads are not easily cut into deep holes by the constant 
churning and withdrawal of material by the wheels. Dry weather 
in fact is more like to break them down than rain—particularly 
if the sand clay ingredients are not uniformly mixed. A good crown 
is necessary to prevent long saturation by standing water. 

It is a serious structural mistake to use too thin a layer of these 
surfacings. A depth of 6 inches loose packing to 4 inches on sand 
and loam road beds and 10 inches loose packing to 6 inches on clay 
road beds is essential. On fresh embankments and on rotten mica 
foundation a thickness of 12 to 14 inches loose will give adequate 
beam strength to offset the weakness of the water-soaked foun¬ 
dation. 

The chief hurtful impurities encountered in road soils are mica 
and feldspar. Their presence is readily detected by examination 
of the separated sand contents. The feldspar either as gravel or 
sand is friable, easily crushed, and weathers rapidly into clay. 
Any large amount is distinctly destructive of good service by the 
soil. Mica in abundance is similarly undesirable above 2 or 3 per 
cent. The flat scales destroy the interlocking value of the sand 
and furnish slippery surfaces along which water penetrates and 
rapid softening ensues. 

The influence of organic matter is distinctly helpful in binding 
these soils, but is rapidly lost by decay and weather action. 

The writer believes that the possibilities of road surfaces made 
from natural soils are far greater than is now realized. 

More careful attention to the exact mixtures, intimate stirring and 
mixing, the use of sprinklers to secure proper moisture, and finally 
the positive consolidation of a definite thickness by the use of tamp¬ 
ing rollers, while possibly nearing the cost to $1200 per mile, could 
result in surfaces permanently serviceable to the heaviest rural traffic. 

Moreover, where the expenditures for rock covered roads are 
now nearing from $5000 to $10,000 per mile, the $1200 soil road 
would leave ample funds for constant road policing and imme¬ 
diate repair, thus solving that really unsolved yet vital road problem, 
to wit, proper maintenance. 

The Chairman: Is there anyone who wishes to discuss briefly 
any of the points in Professor Strahan’s paper? If not, we are 
going to adjourn the meeting. Governor Harris is anxious to go 


336 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


through the exhibits and no doubt there are quite a few of our 
Georgia commissioners present this morning, who just arrived in 
the city last night and this morning and are also anxious to visit the 
exhibits. We will adjourn the meeting until 2 o’clock this afternoon. 

Friday Afternoon , November 12 } 2 P.M. 

W. Tom Winn, Presiding 

The principal address at this session was an illustrated lecture by 
Dr. S. W. McCallie, State Geologist of Georgia, on the “Road 
Material of Georgia.” In order to secure proper equipment, this 
lecture was delivered in the moving picture room. 

At the conclusion of Dr. McCallie’s lecture, President Fletcher, 
in a few well chosen remarks, expressed his great pleasure at the 
unqualified success of the Congress, and thanked the officers for the 
valuable assistance which they had given him. 

No further business appearing, President Fletcher declared the 
Congress adjourned sine die. 


WOMEN S CONFERENCE ON ROADS 

Ansley Hotel, November 10, 10 AM. 

Under auspices of the Woman’s Department of the American 
Highway Association. 

Mrs. Robert Baker in the Chair. 

The Chairman : The Conference will please come to order. It is 
very fitting that this new movement among women should be 
launched in the State which first offered to American women the 
equipment by which to make herself useful in civic life. Georgia’s 
example has been followed until now there is a great army of highly 
educated and intelligent women eager to help their brothers make 
this country a model for all the world. No activity in which they 
can engage will have a more beneficent and far reaching effect than 
this, to remove the check upon our social development and our 
material prosperity caused by our disgraceful roads. 

Great oaks from little acorns grow! It is with the hope, with 
the assurance, of great things to come, that I greet you here today 
and introduce to you as the first speaker at the first women’s con¬ 
ference on roads, the wife of your governor, Mrs. John M. Slaton. 

Mrs. Slaton: Ladies of the Good Roads Congress: I am glad to 
welcome you to a State that has exalted woman by establishing the 
first female college in the world—in Macon, Georgia. The devotion 
of our splendid men speedily expressed itself by affording a widened 
horizon through the instrumentality of education, and with this 
greater power is imposed the greater responsibility of service. 

Our sex is being called upon to a greater extent than ever before 
to aid in the practical activities of life, and especially in those which 
affect the home. Feminine sympathy is ever alert when the happi¬ 
ness of the fireside and the interest of childhood are involved. A 
large proportion of our citizens live in the country, and accessibility 
to church and school house, the receipt of daily mail, the extension 
of the limits in which local papers can be circulated on the day of 
publication, the use of parcels post, are dependent upon our high¬ 
ways and necessarily affect the happiness and welfare of our sex. 

Good roads mean more land cultivated, and more profitable crops, 
and a decrease in the cost of hauling them to market. 

The purpose of the Woman’s Department of the American High¬ 
way Association is to create through the educational work of women, 
a demand for an efficient State Highway Department, and also for 
the constant and adequate maintenance of roads built with the 
public money. 

A wise administration lowers the cost of materials since they are 
bought in the largest quantities. It prevents the unnecessary 

337 


338 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


duplication of road machinery—it reduces the number of road 
officials. For instance, under the administration which gener¬ 
ally prevails in the United States and which is based on the theory 
of extreme localization of authority in road management, there are 
nearly 140,000 road officials. The road laws in most places do not 
require of these men any technical knowledge of road construction 
or repair. Reforms which would substitute a comparatively small 
body of trained men, giving all their time to road work, would save 
the country more than $50,000,000 every year. 

A joint committee, composed of a special committee of the Ameri¬ 
can Bar Association, a committee of the American Highway Asso¬ 
ciation and a group of the foremost road engineers of the country 
are engaged in the compilation of a code of laws for the State admin¬ 
istration of highways. When that code is published the Woman’s 
Department will work in each State for such parts of the code as are 
applicable to climatic and other local conditions. 

This code of laws will provide for a State engineer, his assistant 
engineers in charge of sections of the State, then county assistants 
in charge of the road supervisors, etc., section bosses and the neces¬ 
sary laborers. These men, from the highest to the lowest, should 
be appointed solely for their competency, and should be retained in 
office as long as their work is what it should be. 

Good roads mean an increase in our rural population, and a con¬ 
sequent decrease in the crowding of our cities, and thus a lowering 
of the cost of living. More prompt and less expensive medical 
attention—far larger school and church attendance and above all 
new life for the farmers’ wives and daughters. 

Personally, and for the women of Georgia, I welcome you—our 
homes are open to you, and I trust that you will take with you on 
your return the memory of a sympathetic and kindly people who 
have been glad to have you as their guests. 

The Chairman : As at the Road Congress the men are welcomed 
by the Governor of the State and the Mayor of the city so are we 
welcomed by the women who represent the State and the city. Our 
second speaker is the President of the Atlanta Federation of Women’s 
Clubs. She is the leader of 8000 energetic, altruistic women, all 
busy about many good things. I have the honor to introduce Mrs. 
Samuel Lumpkin. 

WHAT ORGANIZATION MEANS TO WOMEN 

Mrs. Lumpkin 

President Atlanta City Federation of Women's Clubs 

I am quite sure each and every one of us here understand the 
importance of federation and cooperation, the importance of co¬ 
operative effort and unity, not only among ourselves, but with men, 
in every undertaking that is worth while. We all understand that we 


women’s conference 


339 


must work in unity and that no one individual can accomplish any¬ 
thing no matter how great their ability or efforts, unless they co¬ 
operate with others and make the effort worth while. I think we 
all understand that, and we all know that organization is the greatest 
thing of the present age for accomplishing things and I think in this 
civic evolution in which women are becoming more and more inter¬ 
ested, it is not because of their wish to rule or show their authority 
over men, but simply because it is their aim and wish to be of help. 
And I think this meeting and all other meetings of women are simply 
for the purpose of cooperating with the men by forming organiza¬ 
tions among themselves to aid the very best and to be of the most 
service and the most help to the men—we want to do things to help 
other persons, and I believe we are coming more and more into public 
life ourselves, because the world is so now that we must do it. 

This Road Congress, I think, is a magnificent thing, especially 
for the country woman. We cannot say too much for the country 
woman. I know what she has to contend with and to suffer. For 
years, my husband was a circuit judge over a large number of small 
villages, and I myself have gone over all those country roads, and I 
know what it is to be in the country. Many times we had to go 
through creeks, without bridges, when I would have to draw my feet 
up on top of the seat. I know the hardships the country woman 
has to undergo. 

We cannot say too much for the country woman—she has the 
dignity and sweetness and unselfishness, which is the most appealing 
thing in the world. We cannot say too much for good roads. We 
must all bow down in reverence to the country woman—therefore, 
everything that pertains to her comfort and health, we want to have 
a hand in accomplishing. 

The Chairman: Mrs. Logan Pitts of Calhoun, Georgia, Chair¬ 
man of the Committee on Civics, Georgia Federation of Women’s 
Clubs, will now tell us what the club women have already tried to 
do for the Georgia roads. Mrs. Pitts. 

WHAT WOMEN ARE DOING FOR ROADS NOW 

Mrs. Logan Pitts 

Chairman on Civics , Georgia Federation of Women’s Clubs 

“Good Roads”—this subject of good roads which we are here to 
discuss today, is one that is dear to my heart. Since this movement 
was endorsed by the General Federation of Women’s Clubs about 
three years ago, the study of this subject is being engaged in by 
club women throughout the country. As Chairman of Civics for the 
Georgia Federated Clubs, it has been my policy to urge the im¬ 
portance of this need as being essential to the development of the 
best intelligence, happiness and prosperity of our people and the clubs 
through their civic committees and their county papers have done 
much in the promulgation of this principle of good roads. 


340 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


The activity of the club women, the constant agitation of the 
subject by chambers of commerce, and other agencies, through the 
columns of leading magazines and the daily press have resulted in the 
creation of a public sentiment, favorable to the good roads movement. 

When Mr. Roosevelt asked the people of rural America what 
would contribute most to their happiness, nine-tenths of their answers 
were, “Good Roads.” Mr. Page says: A mighty wave of sentiment 
for good roads is sweeping over the entire country, and already 
the American people have entered upon a road building era which 
has no parallel in the history, not even the splendid era when Rome 
knit together with massive military roads the far fleeing outposts 
of her empire, nor the century of constructive work begun by Na¬ 
poleon, which has given to France most superb systems of highways 
in the world. 

Nearly all the States have established departments of highways 
and have provided for State participation in the building and care 
of the highways. 

The rapid introduction of the automobile into every section of 
the country has revolutionized traffic conditions—it has brought 
people close together, the concentration of population in manu¬ 
facturing and traffic centers has made necessary the transportation 
of immense quantities of food from the producer to the consumer 
and the transportation of immense quantities of manufactured prod¬ 
ucts back to the farm dwellers from the city factories. The vaca¬ 
tion-loving American has made possible the opening up of summer 
and winter resorts and has made accessible the splendid scenery of 
our country. 

The cumulative results of all these individual forces has been the 
weaving of a web of interdependence which reaches every city, 
every town and every farm house. The public highway is no longer 
a mere local utility, it is a national asset, a national responsibility, 
and the Congress of the United States has come to a realization of 
this fact to such an extent that the day of Federal aid to road con¬ 
struction is at hand. 

The need for good roads is apparent—the demand for them is 
becoming universal, the question now is, how are we to secure them 
and maintain them so as to give the most efficient service to all the 
people at the least possible cost. 

This subject is being studied from a scientific and business-like 
standpoint for the first time in the history of the country. Let 
us hope that the deliberations of this Good Roads Congress may 
result in some plan for highway improvement that will meet with 
the approval not only of the State and Federal road officials, but 
also the people at large. The interest of our Georgia club women 
in this subject as I have said before, has been expressed, so far, 
mainly in the agitation of the subject with a view to arousing a 
public sentiment favorable to this movement, while our efforts 
have been directed principally to the elementary principles of civic 


women's conference 


341 


betterment. That clubs have outlived their period of amateur 
effort and are already taking a broader perspective of the work, was 
shown by their ready response when just one year ago it was an¬ 
nounced that the department of civics had enlisted the interest of 
railroad officials in a cooperative scheme of promoting a State-wide 
improvement of station grounds and rights-of-way. Immediately, 
numbers of them took the matter up with their railroad officials, 
and already much has been done. 

We believe the work accomplished at those places to be a fore¬ 
runner of those larger achievements of civic betterment, which we 
await with faith and strivings, and which will include not only a State¬ 
wide improvement of station grounds, but also, a system of good 
roads, generous enough in its layout to provide for a scheme of 
beautification similar to that of the proposed Lincoln Highway, 
which is to be built from New York across the continent to San 
Francisco. Interest in this highway is general and has given impetus 
to the good roads movement throughout the country. Affiliations 
with the Lincoln Highway Commission is a Lincoln Way Tree Com¬ 
mittee, composed largely of club women, which is working out a 
plan for its beautification and it has been proposed that each State 
adopt a distinct style of its own by planting trees, shrubs, and 
flowers that are indigenous to the State through which jt passes. 
For instance—New Jersey will plant fruit trees for their bloom in 
the spring and their fruitage for travelers in the fall. Michigan 
women will plant a car load of walnuts. The women of Utah have 
a wonderfully interesting idea—the pines of their mountains, the 
tiger lily, their State flower, the roots of which provided nourishing 
and delicious food for their pioneers when all other food failed them, 
the cactus and the sage brush of their deserts and emblematic figures 
of salt where no vegetation will grow. 

In California, the pepper tree will be used, and the children of 
Oakland have been gathering golden poppy seeds, and will sow them 
after the fall rains with the blue lupin to border them, so that motor¬ 
ists may drive through many miles of blue and gold bordered high¬ 
ways, when they attend the fair in San Francisco. 

What a beautiful idea it would be for the children of all the States 
to assist in beautifying the highways. 

Italy has her Appian way, England her magnificent roads with 
their famous hawthorn hedges, France her superb system of highways, 
the finest in the world, bordered with shoulders of green. America 
will have her Lincoln way—Georgia must join hands with her sister 
States in making this road as splendid, as extensive, and as beauti¬ 
ful as any of those which the old world boasts. 

The Chairman : The determining cause of this women's meet¬ 
ing has just appeared in our midst in the person of Mr. Page. I 
am sure you will wish to hear him speak although unfortunately 
the exigencies of a very full program will not permit more than 


342 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


three minutes even to the road man of the country. It gives me 
great pleasure to introduce Mr. Logan Waller Page, Director of the 
United States Office of Public Roads and President of the American 
Highway Association. 

Mr. Page : Chairman and Ladies: Mrs. Baker told me she would 
allow me three minutes to talk to you and I am going to try and make 
my remarks as brief and practical as possible. I have watched the 
work that women have done in bettering our rural educational con¬ 
ditions and as President of the American Highway Association, last 
spring, I asked our Board of Directors to allow me to start a Woman’s 
Department of that Association, for I believe that women could 
accomplish more in better county road management than men could. 
For 20-odd years, I have gotten up county and district organizations 
for the betterment of road management, but they never met with 
success. A man will get up in his county and say, “everything is 
all wrong here, we are not spending our money properly, we are not 
getting any results,” but the men will wink at each other and say, 
“he is going to run for the legislature next year.” Now, that’s 
not the case with women. 

To try and bring this fact home to you, I will give you an illus¬ 
tration. For the past six years, I have offered each county in the 
United States a first-class highway engineer, free of charge, if they 
would let that engineer direct the expenditures of the road fund 
in that county and to superintend such work and do as he thought 
best, etc. I have never succeeded in getting but two counties to 
accept that offer. Now the principal reason is that our road work, 
our county road work, is superintended by the vast army of some 
140,000 road officials, which this lady has just told you about. That 
system was started in England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. 
Oliver Cromwell did away with it in England, but we have stuck 
to it here. Now as a rule those road supervisors are selected, not 
because they have any knowledge of road construction but for po¬ 
litical reasons—their compensation is too small and their term of 
office is too short to make it worth their while to qualify themselves, 
so the result is they are part of a great political machine, that’s all. 
You will find a little account keeping of money on roads will show 
that work in this direction is not usually done on the most important 
road, but on the road on which the most important man in the county 
lives. I succeeded in getting a very rural county in Vermont, three 
years ago, to accept the services of a highway engineer. We agreed 
at that time that our engineer should report for duty and remain 
there a year from the first of May. He reported there on the first 
day of May and wired me that 80 per cent Of the year’s appropriation 
had already been spent. I wired him in return to remain and to go 
to their commissioner, ask him how much money he had received 
for road work and to show what work he had done. I told him to 
make an estimate of what he thought of the work and what it was 


W0MEN ? 8 CONFERENCE 


343 


worth. He found that $800 or $1000 had been paid to one man, 
where the work could have been done for $50 or $60. We then held 
a mass meeting in the county. The people got our engineer to 
agree to stay there and take the remaining 20 per cent of the fund and 
see what could be done with it, with the result that never in the 
history of the country had so much good work been accomplished 
and the roads were never in as good condition. They finally asked 
me to let the engineer stay another year and they would let him 
direct and superintend the expenditures on road work. I let him 
remain another year. That county is one of the best good road 
counties in the United States today. 

The work that can be done by women in our road work should 
begin in the counties. Now, very few of us are really familiar with 
real country conditions. I have called on Mrs. Baker to organize 
this work, to spread it out into the country and get the real country 
women to cooperate. We have got to help raise the country out 
of the rut. I am going to count on the women in this first meet¬ 
ing, where this subject has first been discussed, and I believe the 
women will accomplish the result we want. 

The Chairman : The Governor of Missouri has sent as a delegate 
a woman who has done practical work on roads. She has “ bossed 
road gangs” and superintended the work on the roads near her 
farm. Though affiliated with many useful movements in her State, 
she tells me she cares most for her title of President of the Women 
Farmers’ Club. I know we will enjoy hearing a little account of her 
activities as a “highway man” and a woman farmer. With these 
titles I have the honor to present Miss Frances Pearl Mitchell, of 
Rocheport, Missouri. 

PRACTICAL ROAD WORK BY WOMEN 

Miss Frances Pearl Mitchell 
President of the Women Farmers Club, Rocheport , Missouri 

You have listened this morning to the aesthetic side of “Good 
Roads”—the humane side has also been presented. Now I am to tell 
you something of the practical work done by the women of Missouri. 

As far back as 1909 the D. A. R.’s began working for the selection 
of historic roads as State and national highways. The result was 
the passage of an “Old Trails Road Bill” in Congress and the or¬ 
ganization of a “National Old Trails Road Association” to which 
were eligible any one interested in historic roads. The Missouri 
branch of the National Old Trails Road has secured the dedication of a 
State highway across the Missouri running from Kansas City to 
New Franklin over the Old Santa Fe Trail—one of the early com¬ 
mercial trails to the unknown West. From New Franklin to St. 
Charles, the highway follows the Boone’s Lick Road—a path made 
by the pioneer Daniel Boone and his sons when they made their 


344 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


annual trip to a famous salt spring near the starting point of New 
Santa Fe Trail. All along this highway of over 300 miles, historic 
points have been marked by red granite monuments, and in old 
taverns repairs have been made and relics collected. 

The Missouri Women Farmers’ Club, composed of women who 
personally superintend and manage their own farms, realizes the im¬ 
portance of good roads, as a means of reaching the markets, and of 
keeping in touch with community interests. They are earnest advo¬ 
cators of road improvement and have given much assistance to the 
work. Some have been interested in the “Good Road’s for Child 
Welfare” association and have organized bands of “Boy Road Scouts” 
who drag the roads, cut weeds, etc., thus inculcating the interest 
in good roads in the embryo man. One woman farmer, after failing 
to interest her men neighbors in the split log drag, gave herself a 
practical illustration of its use on the roads about her land, which 
resulted in the community following her example. 

When the Governor of Missouri issued a call for two days’ road 
volunteer work, and in overalls and straw hat managed a road 
grader himself, these women farmers sent their teams and men, fur¬ 
nished lunches for the workers and in every way assisted in the 
movement. The president of the Women Farmers’ Club, a “bachelor 
maid” found herself one of the official superintendents. The “Bach¬ 
elor Club” of the town, volunteered to work under her instruction, 
and a dozen weary, sadder, but wiser, men, before the day ended, 
realized what it was to be “bossed” by a woman! 

A country school teacher in one of the remote counties has proved 
what can be done with the primitive one-room school house by 
converting it into a furnace heated, well-lighted building, with a 
basement equipped with appliances for teaching domestic science. 
The yard is an agricultural and horticultural experiment field and 
the boys and girls are organized into squads of road Scouts. She 
interested her patrons in road work and she and the farm women 
served dinners at the school house, which has become the community 
center—so much road improvement has been made that a community 
wagon gathers the pupils from the farms and conveys them to and 
from school. 

There should be good roads committees in all our Women’s 
Clubs which have any touch with social, civic, industrial or do¬ 
mestic conditions, for whatever women undertake with earnestness 
or zeal is usually achieved. 

Bad roads are a travesty on good government. All nations as 
they advanced in civilization became road builders. Many of the 
fine highways of Europe are yet monuments of the greatness of the 
French Empire under Napoleon’s reign. In the Holy Land the 
tourist and the pilgrim ride their jaded beasts over the broken 
stony road which the conquering Romans built for their war chariots, 
over two thousand years ago. 

Our own nation has been too busy making history and amassing 


women’s conference 


345 


fortunes, to build roads, but there is a wonderful wave of road in¬ 
terest enveloping the United States now. The horseless carriage 
has had much to do with it, for the city and town have common 
cause, when on pleasure bent. The high cost of living has been 
another awakener, both consumer and producer realizing that good 
roads must reduce the cost of food when transportation to market 
is made easier. 

Women can do much by their enthusiasm toward getting the 
right kind of road legislations and by their demand for the wise and 
honest expenditure of road funds in their respective States and 
counties. 

Good roads means the uniting of North and South, the East and West 
into combined effort toward progress and advancement of the Nation! 

The Chairman: Our next speaker is from Knoxville, Tennessee. 
She is Chairman of the Conservation Commission and personal 
representative of the President of the Tennessee Federation of 
Women’s Clubs. I have long anticipated the pleasure of hearing 
her speak. With great pleasure I introduce Mrs. M. B. Arnstein. 

CONSERVATION AND THE ROAD 

Mrs. M. B. Arnstein of Knoxville 

Chairman of Conservation Tennessee Federation of Women’s Clubs 

The greatest fact which strikes us when we compare the present 
day, with the years that have preceded it, is the enormous growth 
of human power. In this present age, we grapple with everything 
that pertains to the material prosperity of our country. We know 
that in facing the various problems of life, that we must consider 
the forces of nature in all her aspect, moral, economic and social, 
and in order to cope with this organization of life, we must conserve 
these forces. 

Conservation is the powerful factor in human exploitation. The 
conservation of our forests, our soil, our water, our minerals, are 
all of inestimable value. They mean the wealth of the nation, the 
prosperity of the people, the heritage of the State. With all this 
wealth at our door; nature’s resources o’erflowing in our lap, as it 
were, the great question is, how to make them available to the 
world at large? 

We must conserve them, but we should do more. We should 
find a practical outlet for them. How? This problem is best 
solved by a system of highways and good roads. We may weave 
garlands of sentiment in our work but in the building of good roads, 
we are undertaking the practical, which interests and benefits the 
people socially, educationally, economically. 

People everywhere are waking up to the fact that good roads 
are the prime factor in commercial, social, economical and indus¬ 
trial conditions. The nation is alive to the question and rural 
life is absolutely dependent upon it. 


346 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


Good roads have brought a complete change in the whole mental 
attitude of our fellowmen who conserve the soil. He looks upon 
life and the world in altered aspect. He too can now conserve, 
conserve his energy, for he sees before him a long vista of good roads, 
which means a vista of peace and contentment. No longer must 
he labor and reap, work and toil against great disadvantages. Dis¬ 
tribution can be made easier and cheaper. His products, his indus¬ 
tries, can now be readily transported, for his roads are passable at 
all times of the year. He can haul nearly twice as much on a con¬ 
crete road as he can on a dirt surface and make the trip to town and 
back in about half the time. All his perishable products of farm, 
garden and orchard can quickly be gotten to the market before they 
spoil. The results are inestimable. The quick and cheap govern¬ 
ment service, the Agricultural Parcels Post, expand his field enor¬ 
mously. Then, he too, can reckon on the increased value of his 
land, because of these improvements. Good roads are indeed a 
potent factor in conservation, they are an economic necessity; for 
our agricultural communities, our forest industries, our mineral 
resources are all dependent upon them in an inconceivable measure. 

They also mean a conservation of human life and human intelli¬ 
gence. They mean conservation in an educational way for the 
farmer living in some remote section of the country, hemmed in by 
muddy roads, cannot educate his family, but against great, trying 
conditions. The school house surrounded by inaccessible walks, 
is more a hindrance, than a boon to child fife. We must, through 
good roads, lift these future men and women of our rural and urban 
districts, from the miry depths of ignorance into the sunlight of 
knowledge, for no matter how much the State and counties appro¬ 
priate for educational purposes, this cannot be accomplished unless 
the children and teachers have good roads. 

With good roads, circulating libraries can easily be transported. 
The people will have their social centers. They can keep in touch 
with the daily life of the nation, and national opinion will not be 
restricted. 

There is nothing so vital to rural life as good roads, nothing so 
vital to the welfare of the State and nation, nothing so productive 
to the development of the country. 

The South is a great manufacturing section. Quantities of 
southern made goods are shipped to all parts of the country, our by¬ 
products of the mills, our pure foods, our machinery, our imple¬ 
ments are all dependent on good roads. It is the one big question 
of the day in all lines of industrial endeavor. They will aid not only 
the rapid transportation of our timber, but will add to the economic 
utilization of wood and other forest products, and helps us to main¬ 
tain supremacy of our great mineral production. 

Think what they will mean to your marble industries, here in 
Georgia, to our marble in Tennessee, our coal, our wealth of iron. 
They mean the upbuilding of the South; the upbuilding of the 
nation. 


WOMEN S CONFERENCE 


347 


Take our forest reserves for instance. We are all in favor of 
Federal control of our national forests—for our national forests are 
our greatest asset. The government, as you know, has an option 
on a tract of 6,000,000 acres in the Southern Appalachian region, 
in which purchases are to be made, and from which it will conduct 
its operation by building roads and driveways. What will be the 
result? This will mean forest institutes and the like, with a system 
of highways and good roads running through these national forests. 
The States and counties will construct links in between, thereby 
making a great highway, extending from near the National Capitol 
along these mountains to the southern end of the national forests 
in Georgia and Alabama. 

This is coming right home to you my friends. With this system 
of roads and trails leading down to the streams, all of which we are 
conserving, with hotels, cottages, etc., there would be made easily 
accessible one of the most beautiful and picturesque mountain re¬ 
gions in the world. 

The country is the nation’s great recruiting grounds. What is 
it that has made the mountains of Europe the playgrounds of 
America? Why do our tourist spend months yearly in the Alps? 
Why is it they spend time and money in these foreign counties 
instead of in their own? Because those people have been far¬ 
sighted enough to enhance their natural beauties and to make 
them accessible by good roads. All over the Continent, will you 
find highways that make us blush with shame in comparison, public 
highways, that surpass our private roads and are as beautifully 
embellished as our city parks. 

Good roads are a public health utility. They mean a conservation 
of life as well as of products, for rural isolation due to bad roads is a 
serious factor in inflicting disorder of the mind on women. They 
will mean a diminution of tenement life, for people will realize with 
good road facilities for transportation, the health giving life of the 
country. 

They mean the reduction of the high cost of living; for our cities 
are dependent on the country for their products. They mean new 
life, new hopes, new ambitions. 

There is no road so expensive as a bad road, and every county 
should build good roads; for much money is practically wasted 
in the process of road building, through inexperience, poor material 
and poorer labor. There should be greater efficiency in the distri¬ 
bution of funds for public road building, greater efficiency in the 
supervision. Remember the best is always the cheapest in the end 
and they who build the best roads, build a road of lasting prosperity. 
Build a good county highway and every village will have its main 
streets paved and good roads connecting with it. Pull the suburbs 
out of its muddy tracks and you will pull them into enlightenment. 
Give the people good roads and you will not only give them ideals, 
inculcate a love of home, a pride in their surroundings, but you will 
conserve the best interests of the people and lay an economic foun¬ 
dation that will benefit the country, the State and the nation. 


348 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


1 was asked “ What have women to do with Highways Associations 
and the building of roads?” I replied, “ Women have to do with 
everything that concerns the home and the future American citi¬ 
zens, and the question of good roads is of paramount importance 
to home life, to education and to health. 

We should make for posterity a better abiding place, “Thy God 
bringeth thee into a good land, a land of rivers, of fountains, of 
depths that spring out of mountains and hills.” Let us supple¬ 
ment this with a land of good roads, for conservation and good 
roads are the most urgent questions before the country today. They 
go hand in hand and will show how human efficiency may be effect¬ 
ively utilized and how many things, that now go to waste, may 
be converted into sources of revenue. 

They mean a new era of prosperity to this country, where poor 
roads have long been the greatest drawback. 

May good roads, foreordained by the wise action of today, be 
a practical consummation of a glorious tomorrow. 

The Chairman: “The Social Side of the Highway” is the sub¬ 
ject of this next paper. Mrs. Haden was the former President 
of the Atlanta Federation of Women’s Clubs, is now chairman of 
the Commission on Education of the Georgia Federation and is 
concerned in much of the good work being done in Atlanta. Mrs. 
Charles J. Haden. 

THE SOCIAL SIDE OF THE HIGHWAY 

Mrs. Charles J. Haden 

Chairman Committee of Social Service , Georgia Federation of Women’s 

Clubs 

The road as a social factor may be of greater ultimate value than 
as a commercial quantity. The church, the school and the neighbor 
are the first formative influences in the building of the child after 
it leaves the nursery. The extent to which these may be made 
effective, very largely depends on the conditions of the roads. 

The character of the highway itself is an object lesson which 
leaves a lasting impress upon childhood. Just as monuments and 
houses appeal to the childish imagination and suggest standards 
of life, so does the roadway. Is it well built, well kept, with appro¬ 
priate bridges and sign-boards?—if so, it speaks thrift and stability, 
and a deep respect for the home-land. There is more than a sur¬ 
face meaning in the familiar lines “dear to my heart are the scenes 
of my childhood.” A line of great oaks, or elms, that border the 
roadway imprints a subtle imagery upon the boy or girl that years 
do not efface. In the upbuilding of rural life, those things which 
charm and cheer the youth have a solid value which is too often 
overlooked. The houses, the roads, the fields and other early en¬ 
vironment, become unconsciously the standards by which we measure 


women’s conference 


349 


by comparison like things ever afterwards, whether they be better or 
worse, at home or abroad. They enter into and become a part of us 
to an extent that we do not realize until when in mature years we 
detect how they influence our conduct. 

The modern roadway lures the city dweller to the country, creat¬ 
ing a counter-current against the call of the foot-lights and the 
white way. Carried out by motor cars, the educative forces of the 
city reach the hundreds of homes which were marooned by the 
old time mud-obstructed roadway. The book, the magazine, the 
newspaper, the fashion, the miscellaneous emanation which gives 
sparkle to city life, transforms the one-time monotony of the farm. 
The drudgery which in former times made dull and drear the farm 
and drove away from it too many of its boys and girls, is changed by 
the incoming of labor-saving devices. Through these the earning 
capacity of the farm is multiplied and the hours of rest increased. 
Less drudgery and more leisure develops the finer qualities of a 
people and enriches their social life. These follow the construction 
of good roads as day follows night. 

The rural home-maker finding that city tourists are passing her 
gateway every hour, naturally yields to the woman’s instinct to 
beautify her surroundings. The custom is both universal and whole¬ 
some to add attractive touches when company comes. This initial 
step of home-pride is followed by other steps of domestic and social 
advancement. The girl and the boy of the road-side home meeting 
every day the passing tourists, absorbs elements of a practical 
education which otherwise would be lost to them. 

A rural movement fast becoming nation-wide, is the organization 
of community clubs. These meet once each month at a home of one 
of the members, so that during the year, each member has been host 
at least once, to the club. A study of public questioos, of agri¬ 
culture, of cooperative buying and selling, of fraternal interest, 
has made these organizations of immeasurable benefit to country 
life. These clubs are made possible through the winter by good 
roads; and it may be added that, in hundreds of instances, good roads 
have been made possible only through the influence of these clubs. 
These rural clubs, cooperating with each other and with schools 
of agriculture, have studied the secrets of the soil increasing the 
earnings of the farmer, and broadening the social opportunities 
of his family. It has been long recognized that the deep-laid foun¬ 
dations of England’s national life are its country homes. The 
Englishman lives by the highway, he merely sojourns by the street 
side. Away from the turmoil of the city and surrounded by the 
meadows, the Englishman reaches the fullness of his stature in his 
Thorny Croft, or his Locksley Hall. Under such environment love 
of the country, is love for one’s country. 

Without the passable roadway we lose our greatest birthright— 
pure air and abundant sunshine. In the construction of sleeping 
cars there is a certain scientific minimum of breathing space for 


350 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


the protection of health; it is equally well recognized that the best 
protection against social ills are the larger breathing places along 
the country highways. All deplore the overgrowth of the cities, 
but this trend of our times seems without remedy. Now, as in 
the past, the city is reinforced by recruits from the country. The 
wise thing is to raise the standard from whence these recruits come, 
not only to better equip those who leave, but to increase the num¬ 
ber of those who remain. This is the undertaking for each sepa¬ 
rate country home and may be best accomplished when country 
homes, one with another, are close knit into a social fabric. The 
telephone along the roadside, the metal reservoir conveying water 
by gravity through every room, electric or acetylene lights, the 
daily rural mail delivery, the small automobile; these can lighten 
the one-time burden of the farm and brighten its one-time dullness 
and transform a whole country into a neighborhood. They follow 
and depend upon the improved highway. It is not that we need to 
meet people every hour—indeed it is better that we do not meet them 
every hour—but that we can meet them when we should and meet 
them with comfort, that develops social life at its best. Keeping 
busy at something both useful and agreeable is a later accomplish¬ 
ment of the city woman. This has been found to be the greatest 
youth-prolonging influence ever discovered. Adopting this discovery 
the women of the city have united in many organizations for civic 
and social service. They have served’ the public well, but in doing 
so have served themselves better. The highway with its accessions 
puts at the command of the women of the country the same oppor¬ 
tunity of taking the drudgery out, while they still keep busy at some¬ 
thing both useful and agreeable. One is work with the sparkle 
out, the other is work with the sparkle in. 

The railway train is of the town and for the town. It steams 
across the country along its narrow right of way with hardly more of 
human fellowship than an aeroplane or a meteor. But the improved 
roadway establishes a social level. The humblest cottager feels in it 
a sense of partnership—that it leads him somewhere , and brings him 
something. The school boy with his books, the woman at the well, 
and the man with the hoe give and receive the salute as the motor 
car whirls along. The country store and the wayside inn, give and 
take the glad hand with the tourist. Between the driver on the 
hay-wagon and the millionaire in his touring car the pure democ¬ 
racy of the pioneer republic for the passing moment lives again. 
In touring across New England during the past summer, the cot¬ 
tage woman who kept the toll-bridge which spans the Connecticut 
River where it divides the mountains of Vermont and those of 
New Hampshire, told us that within two hours that day she had 
talked with tourists from Canada, New York, Texas and Georgia. 
With two small children clinging to her skirts she said to us, with a 
goodbye wave of the hand, “You know, we are all neighbors now.” 

It is one step—a kind of graceful, sliding scale—by which the 


women’s conference 


351 


tree-bordered avenue stretches into the tree bordered country- 
road. The reasons for the one are the reasons for the other. 
Beauty, comfort and relief from monotony. The cost of planting 
and keeping shade-trees along the highway is hardly perceptible. 
Sunshine and clouds give like spendthrifts, the blossoms of spring 
and the brown leaves of autumn are semi-annual dividends declared 
by mother nature, and the added growth as year follows year, is the 
ever increasing patrimony which one generation bequeaths to an¬ 
other. Such will be the highways of the future as the women of our 
land become more and more concerned in its outdoor civic wel¬ 
fare and cause our road-builders to reckon od the commercial value 
of beauty. In France and California, the charm of the roadway 
attracts tourists from all parts of the world, tourists who spend 
unsparingly of their money and their time. 

As a beautiful gown calls for appropriate accessories until the 
ensemble is complete, so will the shade trees of the highway call 
to their support the grassy lawn, the rose garden, the artistic touches 
of house and out-buildings, until the domestic scene has been made 
anew. The modern roadway will lead us back to the social suprem¬ 
acy of the country as it is in England and as it once was in the 
old South; and these things are coming as by the swift speed of the 
motor car, city comforts are carried to the country home. 

In the pioneer days, the winter solitude of the country was se¬ 
vere in the extreme. The farm home from December to March was 
but little more of a social center than was the island of Juan Fer¬ 
nandez, with Robinson Crusoe and his man Friday. Mud put an 
embargo on travel, except when under compulsion, for a hundred 
days of the year. It must have been when looking from a farm 
house window upon a January landscape of gloom and chill, over¬ 
hung with lowering clouds, that the great author wrote “Now is 
the winter of our discontent.” 

It has been these “winters of discontent” that has driven much 
of the best citizenship of the country into the towns, during the 
past two generations, an exodus causing a melancholy decline in many 
parts of American country life. 

The trolley car, many years ago, began the extension of urban 
boundaries; then came the automobile putting further from the soot 
and noise, the home of the city family. Now, in the more thickly 
populated States, where the towns are near, it is hard to tell where 
the city ends and the country begins. The business man indulg¬ 
ing in his fondness for amateur agriculture, is helping the fortunes 
of the real farmers on the adjoining farms. A comradeship has 
grown up among these new neighbors; the man of the city is ab¬ 
sorbing the thoughts and habits of the country ; and the man of the 
country is taking up the thoughts and the habits of his city friend. 
It is a new social melting pot, out of which we are moulding a vig¬ 
orous manhood. The tension upon the man from the office is 
loosened, and the man at the plow acquires a more definite aim and 


352 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


precision of purpose. The drudge worn look of the farm house gives 
way to the shrub, the vine, the varnish and the paint, and the woman 
of the farm house is refreshed by the thought that she is in touch with 
the world. 

The wayside home is passing through a period of transition. 
Science is softening the hardness of farm life. The work remains, 
but the toil is growing less. By telephone, tjhe house 10 miles 
distant is nearer in wintry weather than the town neighbor several 
blocks away in former years. By the motor car, 5 miles is closer 
the railway station, than by horse drawn vehicle over a bad road 1 mile. 

In Baltimore, within the last few years, the old aristocratic quarters 
of the city have been practically abandoned, because the residents 
have built their homes from 5 to 15 miles away, mingling country 
seats with farms. The grassy lane has become an avenue, and the 
old post roads widened into boulevards. 

History has placed in the first rank the men who build cities. 
But in modern times too much city has disturbed both our social 
and economic equilibrium. The man of the hour—the hero of the 
day—is the man who builds a country. The magician of our times 
whose miraculous touch restores the poise between city and country 
life is the road-builder. It is he who is strengthening the social ties, 
and is making a neighborhood of a nation. 

The Chairman: It gives me much pleasure to introduce Mrs. 
Sheppard Foster. Mrs. Foster is the former State regent of the 
Daughters of the American Revolution and represents the National 
Old Trails Road Committee of that great organization. 

NATIONAL OLD TRAILS ROAD 

By Mrs. Sheppard Foster 

I appear before this Good Roads Conference in behalf of approxi¬ 
mately 100,000 women, the Daughters of the American Revolu¬ 
tion, and as the representative of Miss Elizabeth Butler Gentry, 
National Chairman of the Old Trails Road Committee, who extends 
best wishes to this conference and regrets exceedingly she cannot be 
present. As her deputy I take pleasure in bringing to your notice our 
bill, introduced by Mr. Borland, January 15, 1911, known as the 
Daughters of the American Revolution Old Trails Act or H. R. 2864. 
This bill provides for the construction of a National Old Trails 
Road—the ocean to ocean highway proposed as a national memorial 
road by the National Society of the Daughters of the American 
Revolution. We seek your support and cooperation for this measure 
for you know it has been said “ What woman wishes, God wills.” 

In 1910-11 Mrs. Robert Oliver, State Regent of Missouri, ap¬ 
pointed Miss Elizabeth Gentry of Missouri, Chairman of the State 
Old Trails Road Committee, whose duty it was to urge a State 


women’s conference 


353 


highway across the State following two famous old trails. At 
Miss Gentry’s request Governor Hadley of Missouri dedicated 
this road and named it the Old Trails Road. Miss Gentry is now 
chairman of a national committee in the Daughters of the American 
Revolution, 1000 strong, representing every State in the Union, 
actively engaged in creating public sentiment for this road. Through 
the courtesy of the Century Company, the Madonna of the Prairies, 
renamed the Madonna of the Trail, has been adopted by this com¬ 
mittee as its symbol. 

Already this ideal and sentimental project, initiated and or¬ 
ganized by the Missouri Daughters of the American Revolution, has 
been endorsed by the Trans-Mississippi Congress, the Association 
for Highway Improvement, the National Old Trails Road Convention, 
the American Road Congress, and the United Daughters of the Con¬ 
federacy. The National Old Trails Road Association was formed at a 
national convention at Kansas City, April, 1912. As stated in its 
By-laws, it was “formed to assist the National Society Daughters of 
the American Re volution to carry forward its purpose of making the 
National Old Trails Road the National Highway.” This organiza¬ 
tion of men has over 7,000 members and handles the business and 
practical side of the question while the Daughters of the American 
Revolution handle the historic and sentimental side. Judge J. M. 
Lowe, of Kansas City, is President of the Association. 

The Daughters of the American Revolution were the first to think 
of a national memorial highway, spanning the continent. In each 
State they are trying, as we are here in Georgia, to preserve by 
means of good roads, the local history. But they are all con¬ 
cerned together in the preservation, by the National Old Trails 
Road, of the history of our country. Now is the time when a great 
scenic and historical highway will do most for America for the reason 
that at present Americans must stay at home and “see America 
first.” There are many road bills pending in Congress and we admit 
the necessity for all of these diverging highways. Nevertheless, 
because our great road in the next few years will have an unprece¬ 
dented opportunity to teach American history to Americans and 
because we claim priority for the idea of a transcontinental highway 
we want our great ocean to ocean road built first. 

Our organization has for one of its laudable purposes “to aid 
in securing for mankind all the blessing of liberty.” Is it not doing 
this by advocating a bill for a national highway from ocean to ocean, 
not only teaching our country’s history to natives and foreigners 
alike, but thereby securing the betterment of country life? Our 
plan has a social and political as well as an economic value, for our 
road is made up of several old trails that speak one by one of the 
advance of opportunity, civilization, religion and romance, across 
our continent. 

This road will also make accessible our beautiful American scenery. 
It is estimated that approximately from $250,000,000 to $300,000,000 


354 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


is left annually in Europe by Americans—no doubt more than this 
amount was left this year. We have a great opportunity now to keep 
our people at home, so why not make home as attractive as other 
countries? The Swiss Alps, with its picturesque lakes, do not eclipse 
the grandeur of our Wyoming and Colorado scenery, and Yellow¬ 
stone Park, with its phenomenal geysers and other beauties, and the 
Grand Canyon of Arizona have no rivals. 

It is the purpose of each State, through which this road passes, 
to make it typical of that State, not only by bringing attention 
of the tourists to the history of the State, but to where native ani¬ 
mals, trees, etc., may be seen; to State museums, where objects 
of local interest are collected and preserved; and to old taverns 
of coaching days. This road has been called “Peacock Boule¬ 
vard/ J but along this boulevard you may not only see (may I say) 
beautiful “peacocks,” but “you can delight in the canvas back 
ducks and oysters of Maryland, the beaten biscuits and fried chicken 
of Virginia, the Missouri apple, the Kansas corn and the venison steak 
of the Northwest as well. 

The outline of the National Old Trails Road you will find traced 
across this map. Here are the old Washington Road, the old Na¬ 
tional Road or Cumberland Pike, the Boon Lick Road, the Santa 
Fe Trail, Kearney’s Road and the Oregon Trail. The Washington 
Road was traversed by General Washington to and from his several 
inaugurals as President of the United States and the Braddocks Road 
was traveled by General Braddock in his campaign against the 
French and Indians in 1755. The States crossed by these pioneer 
trails are Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, 
Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, California, 
Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. The road is 
open all the year, and is even now ready for tourists to the Panama 
Exposition. There are hotels and garages the entire length of it, 
easily reached during each day’s travel. The larger portion of it is 
now a dirt road, with concrete bridges and culverts. When the gov¬ 
ernment takes it over it will be macadamized or concreted. 

Modern travel demands clear road signs to mark the roads and 
travel goes to the well graded and well marked roads. The sign for 
our Main Road is composed of red, white and blue bands, each four 
inches wide and eight feet from the ground. It is surmounted 
with the Daughters of the American Revolution Insignia and the 
name, National Old Trails Road. 

I have given you briefly an outline of the proposed National 
Highway of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and I wish 
particularly to impress upon you that in doing so I am simply the 
mouthpiece of the national committee. The committee wants your 
support because this Old Trails Road is the most practicable outline 
for an ocean to ocean road yet suggested, because its connection 
links are made up of old roads and trails that are replete with his¬ 
tory, and because there cannot be a route which would be of more 
picturesque and historic interest. 


women’s conference 


355 


The old roads have been marked with the crimson blood of our 
forefathers who through their heroic deeds and sacrifices, blazed 
the pathway of American civilization and their history is filled 
with sacred reminiscences. The Daughters of the American Revo¬ 
lution ask you to lend your influence in behalf of our Old Trails 
Road Bill as a fitting memorial fco our pioneer patriots. 

The Chairman : After such an interesting paper it is rather diffi¬ 
cult to explain the attitude of this new woman’s department to 
these specific highways. Especially after the delicious menu offered 
by the National Old Trails Road! This department, of course, is 
heartily in sympathy with good roads everywhere that they serve 
the demands of present day traffic and is deeply sensible of the 
charm of sentiment and association which clings about the old 
trails. These transcontinental highways and all others ought how¬ 
ever to be built by skillful men, under efficient and economical man¬ 
agement, and all the various sections of these costly roads should be 
permanently maintained after they are built. Under our present 
State systems of road management from 20 to 40 per cent of the 
road funds are wasted. How much better to stop this enormous 
leak before pouring out further great streams of money for the roads. 

The Woman’s Department begs the assistance of all patriotic 
women to make our road management as efficient as the manage¬ 
ment of any other big modern business. Then there will be money 
enough in State treasuries to build the different sections of these 
splendid roads at the smallest cost and with the least expenditure of 
time and effort. 

It is much to be regretted that the fine addresses of Mrs. Nellie 
Peters Black of Atlanta, Mr. Sidney Suggs, State Highway Com¬ 
missioner of Oklahoma, Mr. Wm. R. Roy, State Highway Commis¬ 
sioner of Washington, Mr. J. E. Pennybacker, Chief of the Division 
of Road Economics of the U. S. Office of Public Roads and Professor 
Agnes Ellen Harris were not reported. Mr. Pennybacker, who offi¬ 
cially represented the Office of Public Roads of the Department of 
Agriculture, gave an illustrated address showing how women can 
best aid the movement for better roads. Miss Harris who is the leader 
of the Canning and Poultry Club work of Florida and professor of 
Home Economics in the Florida State College for Women, officially 
represented the farm demonstration work of the Department of 
Agriculture at the Women’s Conference on Roads. The subject of 
her very delightful address was, “The Road, an Opportunity.” 


ANNUAL MEETING OF THE AMERI¬ 
CAN HIGHWAY ASSOCIATION 


Atlanta, Georgia 
November 12, 8 P.M. 

President L. W. Page in the Chair. 

The meeting was called to order by the President, and the minutes 
of the last meeting read and approved. 

The Secretary presented his report for the year, and also the 
report of the Treasurer, the latter official being absent. The Secre¬ 
tary reported that 520 new members had joined the Association 
since its last meeting; that a most important step had been taken in 
the establishment of a Woman’s Department, and that the financial 
affairs were in an unusually satisfactory condition, there being a bal¬ 
ance on hand of $6,868.26. He also reported that the 1914 edition 
of the Good Roads Year Book and the Proceedings of the Third 
American Road Congress had been issued during the year, distributed 
to members of the Association, and a large number sold. 

On motion of Mr. MacDonald, duly seconded, the reports of the 
Secretary and Treasurer were approved. 

The President: Gentlemen, there is an amendment to the 
constitution to come up for action toffight, of which due notice has 
been sent you by the Secretary. I will ask Mr. Pennybacker to 
read the amendment. 


Secretary Pennybacker: Mr. President, the purpose of the 
amendment is to make all officers except President, Vice-President, 
Treasurer and Directors, appointive by the Executive Committee. 
The amendment, if adopted, will read as follows: 

Article V (as amended) 

Section 1. The officers of this Association shall consist of a President, a 
Vice-President, a Treasurer, and a Board of Directors, consisting of the 
President and Vice-President of the Association and twenty-three additional 
members, to be elected at the annual meeting of the Association as herein¬ 
after provided, and such other executive officers as may be appointed by the 
Executive Committee. 

Section 2. The President, Vice-President, Treasurer, and members of the 
Board of Directors shall be regular or sustaining members of the Associa¬ 
tion, and shall be elected at the first regular meeting and annually thereafter, 
except that the members of the Board, exclusive of the officers, shall be 
elected in three groups, the first to hold office for a period of three years, 
the second to hold office for a period of two years, and the third to hold 
office for a period of one year, vacancies on the Board to be filled annually 
thereafter. 


366 


AMERICAN HIGHWAY ASSOCIATION 


357 


On motion of Mr. Diehl, duly seconded, the amendment was 
adopted. 

The President: Gentlemen, the next business before the meet¬ 
ing, is the election of officers for the ensuing year. 

Mr. J. E. Pennybacker: Mr. President, I move that a nomi¬ 
nating committee of seven be appointed to consider nominations 
and bring in a list of nominations for all officers and directors to be 
elected at this time. 

The motion being duly seconded and carried, the President ap¬ 
pointed the following committee on nominations: Messrs. Parker, 
Diehl, Suggs, Beatty, Mehren, Pierce and Rader. The committee 
then retired. 

The President: While our Committee is conferring, I wish to 
say to you that I appreciate in the highest degree, the splendid 
support that you have all given to our work of the last four years. 
I think a great deal has been accomplished. One of the most far 
reaching results which our meetings have been instrumental in 
bringing about, was the formation of an organization of State high¬ 
way officials. There are so many people throughout the country 
that have helped in the work during my term of office that it would 
be impossible for me to thank each by name, but I take this occa¬ 
sion to express my deep appreciation of this splendid cooperation. 
I might mention another project of importance that we have inau¬ 
gurated this year, and that is the formation of a Woman’s Depart¬ 
ment of the Association. We all know how deeply the women 
have stirred the public mind in their propaganda for prohibition 
and suffrage, and I believe that an equal amount of energy exerted 
by women to bring about better road management throughout the 
United States, will be most productive. We all know that if a man 
begins to talk reform in road work in our counties, the men smile 
and say he is going to run for the legislature next year or for Con¬ 
gress. Now that is not the case when women take up the work. 
I have asked the women who have engaged in this work, in organiz¬ 
ing their respective counties, to take up three questions; how much 
money are we spending in our county on roads; where are we ex¬ 
pending this money; and, how are we expending it? I think if 
these three subjects are seriously considered in our counties, we 
will ultimately accomplish a great deal in the way of results. I 
see Mr. Fletcher of California, President of the Congress here, and 
I know we should all like to hear something from him. 

Mr. Fletcher: That is a very sad joke; I can’t make myself 
heard, because of my hoarseness. You will have to excuse me. 

Mr. Boorman: I think we ought to hear from our friend Smith 
in regard to your splendid remarks on this women’s work. Mr. 
Smith helped in inaugurating their first meeting. I only regret 


358 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


that the press of the country have not heard the magnificent speeches 
by those noble women. 

Mr. President: We would like very much to hear from Mr. 
Smith. 

Mr. Smith: I think that Mr. Boorman had better continue the 
argument himself. I said in my speech to the good ladies that I 
thought it was a great day when you organized that department 
to get the women of the country interested in road building, and 
eliminate the political side of the question. I am sure that their 
efforts will bring substantial progress in road building. Women are 
the leaders in almost everything else. They are taking a great hand 
in education, they know how to do things in detail much better 
than men, and I am sure you haven’t done anything in all your 
adm'n strative actions greater than the establishment of this de¬ 
partment, and I look for great results, if maintained and worked 
out along the lines that you have suggested. I wish we could get 
the benefit of them in Goergia. I hope that the Georgia women will 
take up this question and find out, as you suggest where we are 
spending this money and for what? In my own State, I find that 
great sums are being wasted. We have no organization. We are 
all acting independently of each other and with no definite system. 
We should have a Highway Commission whose knowledge would 
help us to get results. The State of Georgia gives us 5000 con¬ 
victs to work, but mark you, we have not learned how to work them 
to the best advantage. We want engineers who can figure out some 
material along our roadsides that we can put into our roads and 
make a winter road. I wish, at your next C ongress, that you would 
devote more time to this question of material. We are relying now 
on Professor Strahan, from the State University, to give us the 
information and he has helped us wonderfully. 

Mr. President: Gentlemen, this year we lost one of the greatest 
men, in my judgment, who has ever been connected with the road 
movement. I know when I first took the subject up and we decided 
to form our organization, I went to Mr. Alfred Noble, whom I con¬ 
sider one of the greatest engineers this country has ever produced, 
talked the situation over with him and he urged me to proceed with 
the formation of this organization. From the very inception of the 
work he gave us valuable advice and generous financial support. 
I think it was the darkest moment of our existence when he died. 
I know I felt his loss very keenly and I hope that one of you will move 
to appoint a committee to draw up suitable resolutions upon the death 
of Mr. Alfred Noble. 

Mr. Boorman: I attended the funeral services of that great en¬ 
gineer held in the Cathedral of St. John, on Morningside Heights, 
surrounded with everything that was beautiful, everything that 


AMERICAN HIGHWAY ASSOCIATION 


359 


was lovely, everything that was uplifting. I met there gentlemen 
like our distinguished friend the city engineer of New York, men 
well advanced in life came up to pay their last respects to the mem¬ 
ory of Alfred Noble. I feel that I can say and we can all say that 
Alfred Noble was called to his eternal rest after a life that could not 
be more full of noble and great works. To men like him we must 
look up and try, if we can, to emulate their noble acts. It is most 
eminently proper that a committee should be appointed to draw 
up suitable resolutions in memory of our great engineer, and I move, 
Mr. President, that a committee be appointed. 

Mr. President: We have also, during the past year, lost another 
member of our Executive Committee, Mr. W. W. Finley, President 
of the Southern Railway Company. It was Mr. Finley who first 
urged me to start this association, and to the day of his death was 
one of its strongest supporters. I hope that the motion will include 
both Mr. Noble and Mr. Finley. 

Mr. Batchelder: Mr. President, I make a motion to that 
effect. 

The motion was seconded and adopted. 

Mr. President: Gentlemen, I will appoint on that committee 
Messrs. Charles Whiting Baker, Wm. D. Sohier and A. B. Fletcher. 
I see right in front of me my old friend Commissioner MacDonald 
of Connecticut, and while we are waiting for the committee on nomi¬ 
nations I hope he will give us a few words. 

Mr. MacDonald: Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Associa¬ 
tion: I think it would be highly proper for me at this time to endorse 
the new auxiliary to our work, the ladies. I know that in the early 
days of my struggles as highway commissioner the most valuable 
assistance that I had in my town meetings throughout the State 
where the propaganda had to take place, was the ladies. It was a 
sort of house party, and I know in one little township the young 
ladies gave a minstrel performance. They blacked up and attracted 
a purse of some $800 with which they built walks all through the 
village. The young men sought to emulate their example and got 
up a show, but they didn’t get but $400. Now, over in my State, 
if we want to lift a mortgage on a church, we appoint a committee 
of ladies and we worship God in a house without debt. If the 
horse shed leaks, we don’t have any trouble about getting a dry 
roof when we appoint a committee of ladies to take care of it. Mrs. 
MacDonald went to this ladies meeting the other day, and has 
attended some of the sessions here that we have had this week. She 
said she wished that the delegates could have been present at that 
meeting of the ladies and heard them discuss this great question of 
highway improvement. The dispatch with which they took care 
of the business of the hour and the comprehension that the ladies 
show in regard to this great question, would, she said, have been a 


AMERICAN ROAD CONGRESS 


360 

great lesson to us, not only in the conduct of our convention, but 
also in the subject matter discussed. I told her I rather thought 
that was a lady’s point of view, but she said she was sorry I had 
not been there for I would have had the same opinion. I believe 
that our organizations, throughout the country, for highway im¬ 
provement would be materially strengthened if we had the ladies 
join the organization. The great thing that we will have to contend 
with, gentlemen, in the future, in my judgment will be predatory 
interests, commercialism and politics, as the most destructive force 
in highway construction. Poor construction will not begin to have 
the influence in comparison with the three things which I have 
mentioned. This Association and all other associations that have 
to do with this great question, need to be intrenched, organized 
deeply. There is no doubt but what the splendid session that we 
had the other day on the merit system is one of the greatest ques¬ 
tions of the hour. We should have it. One of the greatest assets 
of that splendid organization, the A. A. A., is that they are loyal and 
faithful, have a united interest, and are one for all and all for one. 
There should be one great organization throughout this country 
that should have for its purpose the keeping of men in office irre¬ 
spective of politics or any other influence that you might name, 
just so long as they are worthy and well qualified to fill the position. 
It is not enough to have all the money that is necessary with which 
to construct roads, it is not enough to have executive ability to 
organize a great force, it is not enough for me to know how, but 
greater and better than all, is the question of economics, how to 
spend every dollar so that there will be an equivalent for that dollar 
which you have expended. I am very glad to see this great organi¬ 
zation that we have indoors and outdoors, with all their tools and 
implements and material. We need every one of them, and I am very 
glad to notice that today and yesterday there was some attention 
paid to this great question, the foundation of road building, the 
dirt road, the question of drainage, the question of grading, the width 
of road, the cycle, the question of straightening a road and all those 
auxiliaries, and this, gentlemen, right here in Georgia where you 
have 82,000 miles of road and 52,000 square miles of territory and 
just 4800 miles of improved highways. What are you going to do 
with the rest of them, the dirt roads? There is not enough attention 
paid to the little details of road building; there is too much atten¬ 
tion paid to the question of refinement; what you want just now is 
a deeper insight into the little things, the depth of the road. We 
very wisely saw that with only 10 per cent of the highways of this 
country improved and 90 per cent still lying in the mud, that it was 
a great question how to take care of that vital problem of starting 
with the earth roads, and what you want to learn is how to properly 
incorporate the clay and the sand and wait until the day comes when 
you can take up the higher branches. In my own State I had a 
thousand dollars which I had to divide into eight parts, and I remem- 


AMERICAN HIGHWAY ASSOCIATION 


361 


ber going out and pacing over the road without even a tapeline and 
then sitting down on the side of the road figuring it up and letting 
it to the selectmen of the town to do it, and was severely taken 
to task by some of the engineers on the ground that I was interfering 
with their business. I said, “Watch me, boys; they only had $1000, 
in some places, and $500 in others, and you will see they will come 
into the movement.” The next year 32 of those townships came 
in for $9000. That was the result of starting with the little ones. 
We cannot all have jewelry for our wives and so it is going to be 
all through this great country of ours. The vital question for us 
all to take up is, let us do whatever we have to do with our hands 
with all out m'ght and have an eye single to what is best all over 
the country, and let us see to it that we stand together for honesty of 
purpose and good intelligent management of everything that may be 
placed in our hands. I thank you. 

Mr. Fletcher takes the chair. 

At this time the committee on nominations submitted the follow¬ 
ing report: for President, Fairfax Harrison; Vice-President, Logan 
Waller Page; Treasurer, Lee McClung; Directors for three years, 
A. G. Batchelder, Bryan Lathrop, W. Tom Winn, Charles E. Blaney, 
William D. Sohier, S. E. Bradt, and Richard H. Edmonds; E. J. 
Mehren to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Jesse Taylor 
whose term would have expired in 1915. 

On motion of Mr. Batchelder, duly seconded, the report of the com¬ 
mittee was adopted and the Secretary directed to cast a unanimous 
ballot for the election of the officers named. 

No further business appearing the meeting adjourned sine die. 














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